Pakistan sponsored cross-border terrorism remains core concern: MEA

India has consistently urged Pakistan to take concrete, verifiable and irreversible steps to curb terrorism emanating from Pakistan, said the latest annual report (2024) released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

“Several UN designated terrorists and terrorist entities continue to thrive in Pakistan,” the MEA said in its report.

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Pakistan has not demonstrated any sincerity in delivering justice to the families of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the MEA said.

“Pakistan engages in disinformation campaigns and anti-India propaganda globally to vilify India. The Indian government has completely and unequivocally rejected in entirety, all such actions and statements by Pakistan on matters which are completely internal to India,” it said.

“The Government of India continues to engage the international community on its position as well as Pakistan’s role in aiding and abetting terrorism in the region, particularly against India in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and beyond,” the report said

India continues to raise the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistan directed at India, at various bilateral and multilateral fora including at the UN, it said.

The MEA further said instances of cross-border infiltration, ceasefire violations, illegal construction along the border, smuggling of narcotics and weapons and violation of bilateral agreements have also been regularly raised through diplomatic channels with Pakistan.

“This has led to a greater awareness in the international community on
Pakistan’s use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” it said.

“Pakistan sponsored cross-border terrorism remains a core concern. India has persistently asked Pakistan to respect the January 2004 commitment of not allowing its soil/ territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. There has been no let-up in cross-border terrorism,” the report said.

“The use of military-grade weapons, drones, communication equipment and under-ground tunnels for infiltration by terrorists, as well as smuggling of arms and narcotics into India across the Line of Control and the International Boundary clearly points to the existence of a state-supported terrorist ecosystem directed against India,” the MEA said.

India continued to engage partners in cooperation on counter terrorism through Joint Working Groups on Counter Terrorism (JWG-CT) with 26 countries, the latest annual report (2024) released by the MEA detailed while highlighting the country’s strong resolve in initiating collective action against terrorism.

India has been engaging with regional and multilateral bodies such as BIMSTEC, G20, ASEAN Regional Forum, SCO, BRICS, EU, FATF and the QUAD Forum on Counter Terrorism.

Joint Working Group meetings on Counter Terrorism (JWG-CT) were held with the US, Kazakhstan, France, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

India participated in the meeting of the Group of Legal Experts (GLE) of Regional Anti Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (RATS SCO) Council held in Beijing, China.

Counter Terrorism also remains one of India’s top priorities at the United Nations, where India advocated for a comprehensive multilateral action to counter terrorism, provision of capacity building support to member states, effective implementation of UN CT-related sanctions as well as strengthening collective action against terrorism.

India actively supported the capacity-building efforts of the UN Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT), and has been supporting a call for greater autonomy of the office.

India also emphasised for greater synergies between UNOCT agencies and international forums such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to promote and implement terror financing standards, counter the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes and advocate for the ‘right to justice’ for victims of cross-border terrorism, among others.

Heightened interactions among these forums will facilitate the early finalisation and adoption of the Convention on Countering of International Terrorism (CCIT) thereby providing a legal definition of ‘International Terrorism.’