India is gearing up to approach the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other international forums including the United Nations with a “fresh set of evidence” on terror infrastructure in territory under the control of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The diplomatic and security officials from New Delhi will share “hard facts” with the Paris-based terrorism financing watchdog and global community, detailing how terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are maintaining their training camps in Pakistan and some provinces of Afghanistan, sources told The Daily Guardian. “The evidence collected by our security agencies over the past few months are sufficient to establish that the terror camps have the backing of the governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” sources said, adding, “India is getting cooperation from the US administration and its intelligence agencies in this mission.”
American diplomats would be working in close coordination with their Indian counterparts at FATF and the UN to ensure that the global forums mount pressure on Pakistan and Afghanistan to dismantle the terror camps immediately, sources said. US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti’s statement reaffirming Washington’s commitment to fight alongside New Delhi against the menace of terrorism assumes significance in this context. He made this statement after paying tributes to the victims at the US Consulate in Mumbai on the 15th anniversary of the 26/11 terror attacks on Sunday. Sources told this newspaper that a high-level meeting of security and diplomatic officials took place in New Delhi on Sunday, during which they reviewed the security situation in the region with focus on the growing activities of the terror camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to sources, a couple of more meetings will be held to give the final shape to the dossier of evidence on terrorists being sent by Pakistan to the Indian region. The experts in security and diplomatic establishments have scanned the evidence gathered by Indian intelligence and security agencies. Some satellite images have also been collected by the experts showing terror camps operating on Pakistan soil, sources said.
Indian security agencies have collected a huge amount of evidence from the terrorists who have been eliminated in certain areas of Jammu and Kashmir over the past few months. Only three days ago, a top LeT commander and his associate were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri. Identified by the codename Qari, he had been active in the Rajouri-Poonch region with his group for the past one year. Sources said that he was deployed by Pakistan there to revive terror activities in the area. The documents and other evidence establish that the LeT commander was trained on the Pakistan and Afghan front. Several such proofs are in possession of Indian agencies that would be in the dossier of evidence, sources said.
The diplomats from the US, the UK, Israel, Germany and other countries who were in Mumbai to pay tributes to the victims of 26/11 attacks by Pakistani terrorists were of the view that Islamabad did not take any action against the perpetrators, handlers and masterminds of these terror attacks.
They are all with India in its campaign to approach the FATF and UN to put further pressure on Pakistan to act against the terrorists who are still enjoying a safe haven on its soil. Indian officials have referred to a UN report saying that JeM, which is ideologically closer to the Taliban, maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar, three of which are directly under Taliban control.
Officials and foreign diplomats say that action should be taken against Pakistan for not doing anything against the perpetrators of the 26/11 terror attack. Pakistan should take credible and verifiable action against the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks whose victims await justice even after 15 years, say officials.
