India Pakistan relations

US bill to designate Pakistan as a sponsor of terrorism: Boost for India’s anti-terror drive

September 21, 2016September 21, 2016 - by India Writes Network

India’s strategy of isolating Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack has struck a powerful chord in the US. A day after US Secretary of State John Kerry chastised Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and asked him to prevent terrorists from using his country as safe havens, two American legislators introduced a legislation in the US Congress to designate Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The bill, H.R 6069 or the Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act, calls upon the US administration to make a formal assessment on the matter within four months of its passage.
The move to brand Pakistan as a terrorist state is seen as a triumph of Indian diplomacy as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj heads to the US on a concerted drive to corner Pakistan on account of its alleged complicity in the Uri terror attack in north Kashmir, which killed 18 Indian soldiers.
The bill is seen as a huge setback for Mr Sharif as he gears up to make a speech in the UNGA, in which he is expected to highlight India’s alleged human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
The US’ admonition of Pakistan underscores Washington’s growing wariness with Islamabad’s systematic duplicity on terrorism, and will bolster India’s drive to isolate Pakistan in the international community.

Kashmir terror attack: Building on global solidarity, India gears up to isolate Pakistan

September 20, 2016September 20, 2016 - by India Writes Network

The terror attack on an Army base in Uri in north Kashmir on September 18 has triggered worldwide sympathy and solidarity with India. The attack, which the Indian government believes to be the handiwork of Pakistani militant group Jaish e-Moahmmed and their handlers in the military establishment, has plummeted the India-Pakistan relations to a new low.
As India embarks on a multi-pronged strategy to diplomatically isolate Pakistan in the international arena, New Delhi should leverage expressions of solidarity to press these countries to sanction Pakistan for its brazen use of terrorism as a state policy. The attack has elicited strong condemnation from all P5 countries – permanent members of the UN Security Council – as well as key partners of India, including Japan, Germany and Afghanistan.
India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is set to highlight Pakistan’s dubious record in exporting terror and exhort the world leaders to go beyond the comfort zone to sanction and penalise this instigator of world terror. Besides speaking at the UNGA on September 26, Ms Swaraj is also expected to meet her counterparts from several countries and seek their support for countering Pakistan-origin terrorism.
World rallies behind India: Highlights
Here is a brief summary of reactions from key world capitals on the Uri terror attack:

Kashmir terror attack: Modi explores tough options amid rising calls for retaliation

September 19, 2016 - by India Writes Network

A day after the brutal cold-blooded massacre of 17 Indian soldiers by Pakistani militants, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a meeting with his senior ministers to explore befitting reply to what India sees as the handiwork of Pakistani militants, in collusion with its powerful military establishment.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag were among those who attended the meeting at the prime minister’s residence on September 19.
The meeting took place amid a rising crescendo of national outrage over the killing of Indian soldiers by Pakistani militants, the biggest terror attack on the Indian Army in over a decade, and a growing chorus of influential voices in the strategic establishment rooting for swift retaliation and surgical strikes on terror camps based in Pakistan.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ratcheted up the pressure, and called for declaring Pakistan a terrorist state,” indicating that the India-Pakistan relations have sunk to a new low. BJP leader and ideologue Ram Madhav has crystallised national anger in his hard-hitting statement, saying that the days of strategic restraint are over and called for “for one tooth, the complete jaw.”
Pakistan has predictably denied any role in the incident and rejected the “baseless and irresponsible accusations.” This casual response of formulaic denial is only going to compel India to take tough decisive actions that will make it costly for sponsors of terror in the neighbouring country to continue on this course of terror and destruction.

PM Modi singles out one nation for spreading terror at G20: Pakistan

September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 - by Manish Chand

Without naming Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the world leaders at the G20 summit that “one nation is spreading agents of terror in the region,” and asked the world community to unite against this scourge.
“One single nation in South Asia is spreading agents of terror in countries of our region,” Mr Modi told the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies on the last day of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China on September 5.
“…there are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy,” he added.
There is no prize for guessing who the Indian leader was referring to as Pakistan’s military-ISI establishment, in collusion with proxy jihadi groups, has targeted India by launching savage terror strikes in the country.
Lauding the G20 initiative to combat financing of terrorism, Mr Modi exhorted the world community to “speak and act in unity and to respond with urgency to fight” terror, Modi said. “Those who sponsor and support terrorism must be isolated and sanctioned, not rewarded,” he said.
“India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism because anything less than that is not enough. For us, a terrorist is a terrorist,” he said in a hard-hitting intervention shortly before he said goodbye to Chinese President Xi Jinping and left for Delhi.