Delhi: Former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on seven All-Party Delegations set to visit key partner countries including the UN Security Council says, This terrorism originates from across the border, cross-border terrorism. We must project the fact that India is a peaceful country. We have always focused on development and the welfare of our people. We have sought to work constructively with countries across the world.
00:00So I think the delegations that are going out, and these delegations consist, as you said, of parliamentarians from across the political spectrum.
00:13It is the message of an India that is united in the face of terrorism, and this terrorism has come across the border, cross-border terrorism.
00:26We will have to project the fact that India is a peaceful country.
00:34We have always been focused on our development and the welfare of our people.
00:41We have tried to work with countries across the world.
00:45India has a human-centric globalization policy, a Vishwamitra policy, and in that context we have always helped other countries when they have needed our assistance.
00:55We have never harmed any country.
00:58But here we have a situation where a country is deliberately going out to inflict harm on us.
01:04There are various reasons why they could be doing that, but this is something that is unacceptable.
01:09So first and foremost we have to inform the international community about not only the speed of terrorist attacks,
01:16the latest one being the heinous attack in Belga, but also the link between non-state actors in Pakistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and the state itself,
01:27the Pakistani deep state consisting of the military, the ISI, and those who run that country today, using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
01:38And here it is important also to work with each country on its own, let's say, areas of experience and its sensitivities.
01:53Every country has been a victim of terrorism at some stage.
01:56You mentioned Saudi Arabia.
01:58Saudi Arabia has itself been a victim of terrorism.
02:01And today Saudi Arabia is making huge strides in terms of development, in terms of taking the economy from one that is dependent on fossil fuels to green energy towards technology, building an entirely new capital.
02:17Saudi Arabia has a strategic partnership with India.
02:21In fact, the attack on us in Belga took place while Prime Minister Modi was in Saudi Arabia.
02:28And I think countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Algeria will understand the need to fight terrorism.
02:36All of them have been victims of terror.
02:38But this is a message across the world.
02:40I mean, these are the countries that Group 1 is going to.
02:42But we are covering, I mean, this parliamentary, all-party parliamentary delegation is covering 32 countries.
02:50So we are covering practically all parts of the globe, influential countries, countries that can make a difference in the international community's thinking and policy towards terrorism.
03:04So from that perspective, for the first time in many, many years, as I can recall, we have such a comprehensive representative delegation going across the globe,
03:18meeting influencers in each of these countries, whether they are political leaders, government representatives, media, business, think tanks, academia.
03:27So it's a comprehensive engagement providing India's perspective to these terrorist attacks and engaging these countries and their, you know, different, let's say, interlocutors on how we can contain Pakistan,
03:46how the international community would have to stand united to ensure that Pakistan does not, you know, allow or Pakistan is constrained to restrict or completely stop the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
04:02So I've actually already answered that in the first question.
04:06As I said, all of these countries have been victims of terrorism.
04:09All of these countries have their own, you know, fight against the scourge of terrorism.
04:15The region has seen terrorism, whether it is in, you know, in Iraq or whether it has been in Syria or it has been in different parts of the Middle East.
04:25And I think there has to be a concerted effort for countries to work together to ensure a zero tolerance policy.
04:34And I personally think that these countries will understand where we are coming from, understand India's perspective.
04:42And as I said, we have excellent relations with all of these countries and it's important that we comprehensively engage them on the latest incident and see how we can work with them in containing Pakistan.
04:57Keep in mind also that all of these countries have influence on Pakistan.
05:01So that's also very important that Pakistan's own, you know, interlocutors, especially those that have significant influence on them are able to bring pressure to bear so that Pakistan realizes that its policy of supporting terrorism is harmful for its own future.
05:20And as Prime Minister Modi and Pakistan continues to harbor terrorists and support terrorism, this will ultimately be its own, you know, a reason for its own downfall.
05:33Yeah, I think we have to illustrate very convincingly to our interlocutors in all of these countries that Pakistan has followed for long a policy of double security.
05:44You have a policy of saying that some of the most wanted terrorists are not in your country, whereas they are there.
06:03You have a policy of saying that there is no link between the state of Pakistan and non-state actors like the Jashay, Mohammed, Lashkar, Etoiba, etc.
06:12But we have seen in Bawalpur and Murke the fact that, you know, in the funerals of these high-value terrorists who are wanted by the UN Security Council, they are on the proscribed list.
06:25We have senior military and civilian figures attending the funeral and paying obeisance to these terrorists.
06:32There is no greater proof of the complicity and link between the Pakistani state and terrorists that they harbor and support.
06:40And also the international community has to understand that the money that they put in, you know, to Pakistan in order to support its development,
06:48whether it is to IMF bailouts or to World Bank or other means, is also going towards providing support to terrorists and creating terrorist infrastructure.
06:59So we have to, I think, bring all these out and basically hold Pakistan, as you correctly pointed out, on its hypocrisy and doublespeak.
07:06Well, I mean, you know, in the region we have very, very strong support, you know, whether it is Nepal or Bhutan or Sri Lanka or Maldives.
07:17And, you know, we see in the case of Afghanistan also even under the Taliban, there is absolutely, you know, clear condemnation of the act of terrorism.
07:29And all of these countries also sympathize with the fact that, you know, there is, you cannot condone state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.
07:40I mean, after all, 25 of those victims of this very, very reprehensible terrorist attack were Indian citizens, but one was also a Nepali citizen.
07:48In the 2611 attacks in 2008 in Mumbai, there were a lot of foreign nationals who were killed because this was indiscriminate killing.
07:56And not even indiscriminate, they targeted the Shabad House of Israel in Mumbai.
08:02They targeted establishments where foreigners were there. They wanted to go and kill foreigners.
08:07So that had more of an impact. But here, it is primarily Indian nationals who have been killed from across our country.
08:15And, you know, whether it is Indian nationals or foreigners or people from the international community,
08:21I think it is important that the world speaks in one voice, that, you know, while we understand that this is not an era of war,
08:29this is also not an era of terrorism, as Prime Minister Modi has said.
08:32So we have to act in unison. We have to get these countries, all of these countries that we are visiting,
08:38that the delegations are going to go and engage, get them around to giving them facts, figures, details,
08:45but also, I think, engaging them on a sheer, I would say, human rationality of it all,
08:53that there is no way that terrorism can be good for anybody.
08:58And ultimately, if allowed to have its way, terrorism will find their way into these countries also.
09:04After all, remember, I mean, what Prime Minister Modi said, that whether it is the attack on 9-11 in New York,
09:11or whether it is an attack in London, or attack in many other capitals in the world,
09:17there is always some link to Pakistan. Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism, and that is what we have to,
09:23and the international community has to, realize and, I would say, deal with it.
09:29Well, I mean, I can't say what the delegation will say, but I think, essentially, we have to tell them that the nature of that operation was very precise.
09:40The nature of the operation was to respond to the terrorist attack on our citizens by targeting those terrorists who were involved in perpetrating, financing, sponsoring and organizing this terrorist activity.
09:57And our strike on the night of 7th May was very, very precise, very calibrated.
10:03We were able to hit these terrorists in the heart of Pakistan, which is the Punjab province, and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
10:10And we were able to hit not only the headquarters of Jashri Mawad and Jashkar Etwaeba and Hezboer Mujahideen,
10:20but also, we were able to, you know, as we say, I mean, as many as 100 terrorists were killed, including 5 very high-value terrorists,
10:28which were prostituted by the UN Security Council.
10:30So, ours was a very precise strike.
10:32We made it clear to Pakistan, there is no way that, I mean, our intention was to strike a terrorist,
10:39and we did not have any intention to hit military or any other targets.
10:43Yet, Pakistan retaliated with massive strikes across the northern and western parts of India,
10:50bordering Pakistan.
10:51They hit not only military establishment, but also civilians.
10:55They hit places of worship, gurdwaras, schools, hospitals, health clinics.
11:00They were indiscriminate.
11:02And civilians were killed as a result of that sort of engagement.
11:07And I think we, obviously, had to have a very firm response.
11:12And when we had a firm response, and when they realized that things were not doing that their way,
11:17they looked to secure support for a ceasefire.
11:21That's what it is.
11:22But obviously, we will have to explain in much greater detail,
11:25and I think let's get to that place, and then we can speak further.
