Terror you sow will return to haunt you, India warns Pak
21 Dec 2016 11:29 PM GMT
India has renewed its demand for international action against Pakistan-based terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and “their shadowy supporters,” and Syed Akbaruddin, India’s envoy to the United Nations, on Tuesday cited a quote from poet Rumi to send to warn Pakistan.
“Every leaf that grows will tell you: What you sow will bear fruit. So, if you have any sense my friend, don’t plant anything but peace,” Akbaruddin said, quoting the great Persian poet in a Security Council session on the situation in Afghanistan.
The UN envoy’s remark was an apparent reference to terrorist groups operating with support from Pakistan in neighbouring Afghanistan. He said that to bring sustainable peace to Afghanistan, groups perpetrating violence in the country must be denied safe havens in its “neighbourhood.”
“We need to address, as an imperative, the support that terrorist organisations like the Taliban, Haqqani Network, Daesh, al-Qaeda and its designated affiliates such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed which operate entirely outside the fabric of international law draw from their shadowy supporters outside Afghanistan,” Akbaruddin said.
“Experience, as well as academic research, provides ample support for the assertion that conflicts in which foreign assistance is available to shadowy entities that fight legitimate state authorities tend to be more severe and last longer than other types of conflict,” he explained.
Akbaruddin pointed out to the Security Council that it’s apparent that efforts by nations for rebuilding institutions, infrastructure and networks in Afghanistan are being “undermined, schools are being destroyed, mosques bombarded and religious gatherings targeted”.
“It is also evident that those who perpetrate these heinous crimes have survived and thrived only with support and sanctuaries on the outside,” he said, in a veiled but strong reference to Pakistan.
“While the Taliban sanctions regime remains split for more than five years, the designated terrorist group makes concerted effort to capture and hold territory. Therefore, for numerous Afghan women, men and children there is no respite from the plague of terrorism,” he said.
India, Iran, Bangla pull out of conference in Islamabad
India along with Bangladesh and Iran have pulled out of a key regional conference on sustainable development which is being held in Pakistan, according to a media report.
The three-day session of the Governing Council of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) started in Islamabad on Monday. The objective of the conference is to promote innovation for sustainable development and discus strategy of the APCTT. The Express Tribune reported officials of Ministry of Science and Technology initially confirmed New Delhi’s participation in the conference but later announced India’s decision to pull out.
“Just hours before the meeting was due to start, the Indian delegation cancelled their trip saying that their head delegate had contracted food poisoning,” the official said.
India had earlier in November boycotted the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that was to be held in Islamabad.
It is believed that New Delhi’s decision is part of its efforts to isolate Pakistan internationally by staying away from such multilateral engagements hosted by Islamabad, media reports said here.
The Ministry of Science and Technology is hosting the meeting of the 12th Governing Council of APCTT.
According to sources, all of the 14 member countries of APCTT were invited, but India, Bangladesh and Iran decided not to attend the meeting.
The governing council, which meets once a year, advises on the future and reviews the working of the centre located in India under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The countries attending the meeting are China, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The meeting will approve projects to be undertaken in 2017. Out of the total five projects, India has submitted one titled ‘Feed the Future India’.
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