India on Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to impose sanctions to immobilise the source of funding for terrorists in Afghanistan. Reports state many of these sources have safe havens in Pakistan.
India subtly aimed international action against Pakistan by emphasising that the sanctions to curb the fundings are the most effective way to exterminate terror safe havens in the region.
Pakistan is home to many terror groups including the Afghan-oriented Haqqani Network and the Taliban, and the India-focussed groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
India's permanent representative at the United Nations (UN), Syed Akbaruddin, in his address to the UNSC mentioned all the terror groups based in Pakistan, without mentioning the name of the country.
He also spoke of the need to safeguard Afghanistan's sovereignty and stability that "anti-government terrorist elements are trying to undermine from their safe havens across the borders" of Afghanistan, according to Times of India reports.
"We support the determination to overcome the challenges of security faced by Afghanistan and the willingness of many in the international community to effectively deal with the issue of safe havens enjoyed by the terrorist organisations that pose a threat to the region and beyond," said Akbaruddin.
"The Security Council must act on the funds which the terrorists in Afghanistan are generating through their illicit activities," Akbaruddin added.
Akbaruddin, in his address, emphasised that sanctuaries for terrorism cannot exist "anywhere and at any level."
"We must not differentiate between good and bad terrorists, or play one group against the other. The Taliban, Haqqani Network, Al-Qaeda, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and others of their ilk are all terror organisations, many of them proscribed by the UN. They should be treated like terrorist organisations with no justifications offered for their activities," India's UN representative said.
Akbaruddin went on to urge the UNSC to consider the Resolution 1988 sanctions regime which was adopted in 2011. Under the resolution, terrorist group Taliban was targeted by freezing of assets, travel bans and an arms embargo to cripple the organisation.
"These are significant instruments and must be utilised to their full capacity," said Akbaruddin.
Akbaruddin added that India feels the current situation in Afghanistan is "painful" and "disturbing," and said the security atmosphere in the country is gradually deteriorating.
