India is preparing a big and significant plan to highlight the cross-border terrorism from Pakistan during a special meeting of diplomats of all 15 countries of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on counter-terrorism in Delhi and Mumbai in the month of October. India will host the diplomats and officials from these countries for the meeting of Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC). Sources told The Daily Guardian that Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is chalking out a special strategy to draw the attention of such an important group of world’s top diplomats towards terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In the presence of envoys from these countries including China, Russia and the United States during the interactions, India will call for forcing Pakistan to answer for patronizing and unleashing terrorists, sources said, adding, “The diplomats will share substantial evidence with their counterparts to drive home the message that cross border terrorism from Pakistan has not yet stopped and Afghanistan is fast turning into a safe haven for terror outfits.” “The sessions will not only be for speeches and making statements, but the evidence-based discussions will be carried out during the CTC meeting,” sources told this newspaper. Current members of the Security Council are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the UAE, along with five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. The meeting, which India is chairing for 2022 as a member of the UNSC, will focus particularly on challenges such as terrorism financing, cyberthreats and the use of drones, said officials.
“But what will make the event quite different is that New Delhi will seek global focus on Pakistan based terror outfits that are involved in anti-India activities by providing substantial and clinching evidence. Moreover, a strong message will be given to the countries (read China) that remain silent when it comes to criticising Pakistan,” said a source. He also added, “India will also establish how the terrorists’ groups operating from Pakistan are using their global links to perpetrate terror activities in other parts of the world.” “Since the points will be made on the basis of evidence and documents, the efforts by Indian diplomats will succeed in convincing the UNSC member states to mount more pressure on Islamabad,” sources said.
Pakistan should be held accountable by the global community for extending patronage to terrorist outfits and for engaging in cross-border terrorism. This will be India’s clear-cut massage during the discussions, sources added. “India has a mountain of evidence to establish how Pakistan continues to provide sustenance and support to terrorists in the territories under its control,” says an official. “Therefore, the global community including all powerful UNSC should call Pakistan for concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, such as al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb ul Mujahideen.”
According to sources, India will also be further pushing for the UN members to adopt a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (first proposed in 1996). This issue will also be raised during the meeting, said a source. Sources told TDG that the diplomats in consultation with top officials in Indian security establishments have started compiling documents on the basis of which the issue of cross border of terrorism has to be raised powerfully. Some rounds of consultations have already taken place, with more rounds likely to be held in coming weeks at South Block, sources added.
