Terror groups in Pakistan disrupting peace process in Afghanistan: India

In a scathing attack against Pakistan, India, at the United Nations Security Council said that Islamabad has been disrupting the peace process in Afghanistan by orchestrating violent attacks through terror groups like Al-Qaida, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-K) in the neighbouring country.

“It is essential that we don’t lose sight of the ease with which the proscribed Haqqani Network and its supporters, especially the Pakistani authorities, have worked along with prominent terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida, ISIL K, Tehrik-Taliban Pakistan, etc. in South Asia,” said India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti.

He was speaking at the Security Council Briefing on ‘Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts’ on Tuesday.

He further pointed out that the UN Secretary General’s report on ISIL should also cover activities of the proscribed terrorist entities under ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions regime like Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Pakistan based terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and “frontal organizations that raise funds for their activities.”

“The world is fully aware that these groups also perpetrate terrorist activities from safe havens in Pakistan, including through violent attacks in Afghanistan that have disrupted the peace process. We are also witnessing the relocation of terror groups to Afghanistan especially in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, across the Durand Line,” he said.

Tirumurti reiterated Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s eight-point action plan during the January assembly that was inclusive of summoning the political will; don’t justify terrorism, don’t glorify terrorists and “No double standards. Terrorists are terrorists. A no good or bad distinction to be made.”

He said that India welcomes the programs that are launched by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office to assist member states in building their capacities to prevent terrorism and acknowledge the direct utility of the Global Countering Terrorist Travel Program and the Global Program on Countering the Financing of Terrorism to prevent and detect travel of foreign terrorists and funding of terrorist entities.

“India has been at the forefront of global counter-terrorism efforts, has taken part in all major global initiatives against international terrorism and is a party to all 13 United Nations’ sectoral conventions relating to terrorism,” he said further.

The intra-Afghan peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban had resumed in January but no progress till now has been made. The talks were overshadowed by a series of disagreements and a surge in violence, including armed clashes and blasts across the country.

However, Former Pakistan senator Afrasiab Khattak had said that Islamabad has been using the Taliban as a “tool” for its dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth.