Silence, inaction embolden terror: Modi calls for action at Heart of Asia

Indian cornered its rival neighbour on Sunday as an international conference on Afghanistan named Pakistan-based militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, among others, as threats to regional peace.

The resolution, called Amritsar Declaration, adopted at the sixth Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process initiative said “Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad ... and other foreign terrorist fighters” were propagating “high level of violence”.

The declaration was announced after Afghanistan and India jointly indicated Islamabad was doing little to rein in militancy in the region. But an India- and Afghanistan-backed joint counter-terror framework wasn’t adopted at the meet, and instead referred to an expert committee.

Speaking at the opening session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about “externally induced instability” in Afghanistan, a reference to Pakistan that is accused of fomenting unrest in border regions.

“Silence and inaction against terrorism in Afghanistan and our region will only embolden terrorists and their masters,” he said, without taking Pakistan’s name.

Minutes before Modi spoke, Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani attacked Islamabad by name, saying Taliban wouldn’t last a month if they didn’t have sanctuary in Pakistan.

“We thank Pakistan for their pledges of $500 million assistance for reconstruction of Afghanistan. I hope that you use it to fight terrorists and extremists in Pakistan,” he said in a stinging rebuff.

He said state-sponsored sanctuaries for terrorists exist in Pakistan, a charge constantly raised by India.

Read | Highlights: Modi, Ghani open Heart of Asia meet, talk Indo-Afghan ties, terror

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who chaired the ministerial meeting in the absence of ailing foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, said the declaration strongly called for “concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, including dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in the Heart of Asia region, as well as disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support for terrorism”.

He termed terrorism as a centre-stage issue at the Heart of Asia conference.

“There is also a need to neither differentiate between good and bad terrorists, nor to play one group against the other,” Jaitley said.

The mention of Pakistan-based militant outfits in the declaration boosts Indian efforts to corner Pakistan diplomatically. New Delhi alleges that Lashkar and Jaish enjoy support from the Pakistani establishment and its agencies, and were being used as tools to disrupt peace in India. Pakistan denies the charges.

Read | Too ‘simplistic’ to blame one country for terrorism, says Pak’s Sartaj Aziz

India blames the Lashkar for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008, in which 166 people were killed, and the Jaish for two audacious strikes this year — on an air force base in Pathankot in January and at an army camp in Uri in September. The country lost 26 soldiers in these two attacks.

India led other regional nations in pulling out of this November’s scheduled SAARC Summit in Islamabad in protest against Uri attack.

Ghani and Modi held bilateral talks before the start of the conference on Sunday, discussing a range of issues, including trade and investment, defence and infrastructure.

“Specific initiatives in this regard, including the India-Iran-Afghanistan Trilateral Agreement on developing Chabahar were acknowledged,” Jaitely said.

Also read | Heart of Asia summit: Over 30 nations to plan fight against terrorism