India has strongly condemned Pakistan at the UN, saying the world knows where perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai, 2016 Pathankot and 2019 Pulwama terror attacks came from. It is quite "regretful" that implementers of these "dastardly" acts continue to relish State support and hospitality.
Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Rajesh Parihar began his remarks to the open briefing of the Counter-Terrorism Committee on Monday by recalling that exactly three years ago on February 14, 2019, 40 brave men of Indian security personnel were killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama carried out by JeM.
"The world had witnessed the horrors of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the 2016 Pathankot terror attack, and the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack. We all know from where the perpetrators of these attacks came from, Parihar said, delivering India's national statement at the open briefing on the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) with the Member States of South and South-East Asia.
He said it is "regretful" that victims of these dastardly attacks are yet to get justice, and the perpetrators, facilitators and financiers of these attacks continue to walk free, still enjoying State support and hospitality, making a reference to Pakistan.
Parihar asserted that India is "fully committed" to bringing the perpetrators of these terror attacks on its soil to justice, while he emphasised that it is high time the international community calls upon this epicentre of terror state to take effective, credible, verifiable, and irreversible actions without further delay against terror outfits operating on its territory and under their control.
"We have consistently witnessed terror attacks on ethnic, sectarian and religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. The mainstreaming of radicalism and communal ideology by the State has also provided a fertile environment for the growth of terror infrastructure in the region he said.
Noting with concern that the terrorist threat posed by State-sponsored terrorism has remained high in the South Asia region, he said many countries in the South Asia region have been victims of State-sponsored terrorism in the last five decades.
Underlining that India has been at the receiving end of terror acts, including cross-border terrorism, for past several decades, Parihar said the country has also been at the forefront of the collective global fight against terrorism, advocating and practicing a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti had opened the briefing with his remarks as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
Delivering the remarks in his capacity as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, Tirumurti said that linkages between the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and UN Security Council-designated terror entities such as LeT and JeM, are a further source of concern.
He noted that "serious concern" remains that Afghanistan may become a safe haven terrorist group in the region.
He emphasised that the misuse of information and communications technologies (ICT) including new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and Blockchain for terrorist purposes is on the increase.
"Use of drones for cross-border trafficking of arms, drugs and launching terror attacks have also remained an issue of serious concern, he said.
He called on member states to harness the power of new technologies to counter terrorist threats in a responsible and human-rights compliant manner.
-PTI