Chennai: India has asserted that the international community must not allow terrorism to be justified and terrorists glorified as it told the UN Security Council that the crime syndicate responsible for the 1993 Mumbai blasts is given not just State protection but enjoying 5-star hospitality, a veiled reference to the D-company head Dawood Ibrahim believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
“First, we must all summon up the political will to unhesitatingly combat terrorism. There must be no ifs and buts in this fight. Nor should we allow terrorism to be justified and terrorists glorified. All member States must fulfill their obligations enshrined in international counter terrorism instruments and conventions”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a virtual address.
He was speaking at the UNSC Ministerial Meeting on “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts: International cooperation in combating terrorism 20 years after the adoption of resolution 1373 (2001),” the first address by Jaishankar to the Security Council after India began its two-year tenure on the 15-nation body this month.
Jaishankar proposed an eight-point Action Plan for the UN system to credibly address the menace of terrorism and ensure effective action. He asserted that linkages between terrorism and transnational organised crime must be fully recognised and addressed vigorously.
He is the senior-most Indian leader to address the UNSC since India joined the 15-member council this month.
“We, in India, have seen the crime syndicate responsible for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts not just given State protection but actually enjoying 5-star hospitality,” he said, alluding to D-Company and its head Ibrahim, believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
He emphasised that the international community must not ‘countenance double standards’ in the battle against terrorism.
“Terrorists are terrorists; there are no good and bad ones. Those who propagate this distinction have an agenda. And those who cover up for them are just as culpable,” he said.