India to Pakistan at UNSC meeting: Change mindset on terrorism
At the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India made a no-holds barred attack on Pakistan. India's ambassador to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin declared that Pakistan needs to change its mindset of differentiating between good and bad terrorists. Further, he asserted that only if this terror mindset changes, peace will return to neighbouring Afghanistan. What else did Akbarrudin say? Read on!
What is Pakistan's good and bad terrorism mindset?
According to Akbaruddin, "bad terrorists" are those who attack Pakistan's military, police and civilians. Conversely, "good terrorists" for them are those who attack India. He asserted that this mindset "refuses to see reason in peace."
How did Akbaruddin connect alleged Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with Afghanistan?
Akbarrudin said that the safe havens provided to terrorists by Pakistan "endangers the entire region." Further, "terrorism and externally induced instability" due to these safe havens threaten "Afghanistan's peace, stability and prosperity." He cited World Bank statistics to explain. He said, Afghanistan recorded 9.6% annual economic growth rate during 2003-2014. But, it fell to 2.2% in 2016, when terrorist attacks increased.
What is India's vision for Afghanistan?
Akbarrudin underlined that just talking about peace isn't enough and constructive efforts to stem terrorism are needed for reversing "Afghanistan's decay." Thus, all regional partners need to work in tandem to achieve this objective. He cited PM Modi's 2015 Afghanistan visit via Pakistan to drive home his point. However, he lamented, this visit too was followed by the heinous Pathankot airbase terrorist attack.
Pakistan struck back by raking up the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue
Pakistan didn't take this lightly. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi referred to Kulbhushan Jadhav and said "those who talk of changing mindset need to look within, at their own record of subversion as our capture of an Indian spy has proven beyond doubt." Further, she asked India to address narcotics trade and "safe-havens" in Afghanistan before blaming Pakistan.
