India, Afghanistan corner Pakistan on terror at Heart of Asia

Short of naming Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his inaugural address at the Heart of Asia meet said, “The growing arc of terrorist violence endangers our entire region. As such, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone is not enough.”

“It must be backed by resolute action. Not just against forces of terrorism, but also against those who support, shelter, train and finance them,” he said asserting that terrorism and externally induced instability pose the gravest threat to Afghanistan’s peace, stability and prosperity.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who jointly inaugurated the annual Ministerial conference here along with Modi, directly hit out at Pakistan for ‘launching an undeclared war’ against his country and demanded an Asian or international regime to verify Pak-sponsor terror operations. 

Time has come for concrete action against terror infrastructure and those support it, Ghani asserted and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.

He said despite Afghanistan’s bilateral and multilateral ties with Pakistan, the ‘undeclared war’ that started in winter of 2014, has intensified after the recent Brussels conference on Afghanistan’s transition.

Slamming Pakistan’s habit of denying cross border terror attacks, Ghani called for setting up of international mechanism to verify reality of such attacks which have increased in the last few months as also pitched for a global fund to contain terrorism. 

Asking the international community to “demonstrate strong collective will to defeat terror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear”, Modi said silence and inaction against terrorism in Afghanistan and in the region will “only embolden terrorists and their masters”. “Let us re-dedicate ourselves to making Afghanistan a geography of peace. A place where reason and peace succeeds; progress and prosperity prevails and democracy and plurality wins,” Modi added. 

The 6th Ministerial conference here is being attended by Pakistan Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz along with representatives of around 30 countries. Modi also called for sustained and sincere global efforts to bring ‘durable peace and lasting political stability’ to Afghanistan. He said securing its territory and citizens from external threats must be a focus area for the ‘critical unfinished mission of our time’.