United Nations, August 19 (PTI): Pakistan-based terror groups like LeT and JeM continue to operate with both impunity and encouragement, India told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday, calling on it not to take a “selective view” on the scourge of terrorism and “to have the courage to call out the ‘double speak’ of those who extend State hospitality to individuals who have innocents’ blood on their hands.

 

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also drew parallels between COVID-19 pandemic and the scourge of terrorism, telling the powerful 15-nation UN body that “let us always remember that what is true of COVID is even more true of terrorism; none of us is safe until all of us are safe”, while chairing a high-level UNSC briefing ...

 

THE reference was clear towards the Pakistani bragging about what Islamabad described as a cause of celebration over the “victory” in Afghanistan. The dour and dapper Dr. Subramanian Jaishankar highlighted India’s stand once again for the umpteenth time that the world cannot just be a spectator on the sidelines of the terrible happenings in Afghanistan, and must act comprehensively to block not just the terrorists but also their sponsors in every which the way.

 

Of course, India is not unaware of the ugly truth of international realpolitik that the Afghan crisis is not a matter of just a few days and weeks and months, but also an extended reign of massive abuse of global order by a powerful few over decades. India is fully conscious that the Afghan crisis has been created and perpetrated by multiple international operators such as Russia, United States, China and the rat-like fringe player named Pakistan through whom much of terror inflow into Afghanistan was routed and managed. India has been also aware that Afghanistan would reach a new depth of crisis once the American troops are moved out leaving a clear space for Taliban.

 

The Afghan crisis is that complicated -- having been made so by international players who used that country to promote their geopolitical designs over decades, and then physically opted out (while leaving a foot in the door to keep it ajar for their re-entry). This is what the United States has done despite its much-talked-about troop withdrawal. By no standard can this be treated as an innocent action by a world superpower.

 

A new entrant to this dirty game is China -- with loads of money, military muscle and much geopolitical vested interest in favour of its own security perceptions. Russia that had withdrawn from Afghanistan long back also has begun showing a renewed interest in the current scenario, and has granted recognition to the Taliban regime in Kabul.

 

Factually, Taliban is actually a non-regime -- so to say. For, though it occupies government installations and physical facilities, the Taliban hardly resembles a government. It is a bunch of bandits with no philosophy but with terror as a tool to be used wantonly to intimidate innocent people of its own faith of Islam. Yet, countries such as Russia and China grant recognition to the Taliban regime -- of course to much shock and surprise of the larger world community.

 

And in this endeavour, Pakistan is an eternal companion of all these powers -- as an agent and sponsor of terrorism -- openly working for a fee, openly celebrating violence unleashed by the Taliban, not bothering about the subversion of basic rights of Islamic population by the so-called torch-bearers of Islamic ideology (whatever that means)!

Openly, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, the infamous ISI, declares that the Taliban has succeeded with its support. Openly, terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad enjoy the Pakistani hospitality and lend every possible help to Taliban, and declare that to the world. They have the support and protection of Pakistan officially and openly.

 

The reference in Dr. Jaishankar’s statement at the UNSC briefing was obviously to this open Pakistani collaboration and collusion with terror. He underlined what India has been saying all along for years -- that the world cannot fight terrorism as a common enemy of all with selective political view. He might not have taken names openly of a few countries whose members, too, sat on the UNSC, but Dr. Jaishankar was asking powers like the US, Russia and China to take a morally correct view of terrorism as a global scourge.

 

India’s consistency is heartening, to say the least. And, to be clear, it is not the pursuance of a stand by a weak nation. Much to the contrary, it is a stand of a nation with the world’s third largest fully professional and patriotic Army, Navy and Air Force -- and the support of a vibrant economy that promises to rise to the top of the world in the next few years. But it is also a stand of a nation that believes in what Dr. Jaishankar himself once described as international ethos and global morality as a binding force.

 

Termporarily, though, India may be seen as being pushed to sidelines in Afghan situation. But India has no issues with that kind of impression. It is viewing the situation carefully, asking a few sharp questions of itself, effecting necessary corrections in its stance from time to time, and keeping its options open.

 

In sharp contrast, acting as an agent and sponsor of terror, Pakistan appears geared up for doom in due course -- having been bereft of any idealism or ideals, having been impoverished by its own eternal client-status working for a fee and not for idea of national honour, having been treated almost like a door-mat by other powerful international players, having been used by them as a stepping stone to further their respective geopolitical goals. This is what happens when a nation positions itself eternally outside the circle of core operations and spurred by core values. As Afghanistan crisis swells dangerously, this is the actual status of Pakistan.