United Nations, December 15
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Thursday told the UN Security Council that the “contemporary epicentre of terrorism” remains very much active as he lamented that evidence-backed proposals to blacklist terrorists are put on hold without adequate reason, in a veiled attack on China and its close ally Pakistan.
Jaishankar, who presided over the ‘UNSC Briefing: Global Counterterrorism Approach: Challenges and Way Forward’, described terrorism as an existential threat to international peace and security and said it knows no borders, nationality, or race.
“The threat of terrorism has actually become even more serious. We have seen the expansion of Al-Qaida, Da’esh, Boko Haram and Al Shabab and their affiliates,” he said in his address to the 15-nation Council.
Jaishankar, speaking in his national capacity, said that “at the other end of the spectrum are ‘lone wolf’ attacks inspired by online radicalisation and biases. But somewhere in all of this, we cannot forget that old habits and established networks are still alive, especially in South Asia. The contemporary epicentre of terrorism remains very much active, whatever gloss may be applied to minimise unpleasant realities.” He was apparently referring to Pakistan, which is accused by its neighbours of harbouring terrorists and providing safe havens to several terrorist groups like al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Taliban.
Highlighting specific challenges with which the counter-terrorism architecture is currently grappling, Jaishankar stressed the need of addressing double standards in countering terrorism, leading to concerns of politicisation.
“Uniform criteria are not applied to sanctioning and prosecuting terrorists. It would seem sometimes that the ownership of terrorism is more important than its actual perpetration or its consequences,” he said.
Jaishankar said that the working methods of relevant mechanisms is also a subject of legitimate concern and debate.
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