Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said the global fight against terror is a work in progress
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said nations that have turned the "production" of terrorists into a "primary export" have attempted to paint themselves as victims of terror as he pitched for global mechanisms to dismantle the structures supporting terrorism.
Without naming Pakistan, Mr Jaishankar said international pressure has eventually compelled a nation complicit in "aiding, abetting, training and directing" terror groups and associated criminal syndicates to "grudgingly acknowledge" the presence of wanted terrorists and organised crime leaders on its territory.
Last week, Pakistan came out with a "Statutory Regulatory Order" (SRO) mentioning names of some 80 terrorists including Dawood Ibrahim, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, ostensibly to escape blacklisting of the country by anti-terror watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In his remarks at the 19th Darbari Seth memorial lecture organised by The Energy Research Institute (TERI), Mr Jaishankar identified use of passenger aircraft as weapons of mass destruction in the "9/11" terror attack and "lethally contagious" coronavirus as "stand-out moments" that disrupted the trajectory of human society.
"All the while, states that have turned the production of terrorists into a primary export have attempted, by dint of bland denials, to paint themselves as victims of terror," he said.
Mr Jaishankar said sustained pressure through international mechanisms to prevent the movement of funds for terror groups and their front agencies can work, which he said was seen last week.
"It has eventually compelled a state complicit in aiding, abetting, training and directing terror groups and associated criminal syndicates to grudgingly acknowledge the presence of wanted terrorists and organised crime leaders on its territory," Mr Jaishankar said.
He said the struggle against terror and those who aid and abet it is a work in progress. On challenge of terrorism, the External Affairs Minister said it is a cancer that potentially affects everyone, just as pandemics potentially impact upon all humanity.
"And yet, in both cases, globalised focused responses to either challenge have tended to emerge only when there has been sufficient disruption created by a 'spectacular' event," he said.
The External Affairs Minister mentioned about the 9/11 terror attacks as well as the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and said a range of mechanisms like the FATF have been put in place, but rued that the world still "lacks a comprehensive convention on international terrorism".
"It remains for the international system to create necessary mechanisms to shut down structures that support and enable terrorism, whether in South Asia or across the globe," he said.