How to expose and dismantle Terror 20 in Pakistan

More than three months after the horrific Pahalgam terror attack, the US has done the right thing by designating The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based and supported Lashkar e-Taiba as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). India considers the TRF to be the mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack and had sought its proscription by the UN within days of the attack. But the UN system was cynically used by Pakistan to remove any references to TRF in the UN Security Council’s statement on the Pahalgam attack.

T20 Versus G20

This news has come at a time when India and the UK have signed a Free Trade Agreement, throwing in sharp contrast sharply different trajectories of the two neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan. During my visit as part of all-party delegation of MPs to London in June, I had highlighted that while India is pursuing global free trade agreements, Pakistan is promoting a “free terrorist arrangement” across the world. India is also set to sign FTAs with the US, European Union, and Australia. The contrast between the fates of India and Pakistan could not be starker. India is looking at trade and economy, while Pakistan continues to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy and is looking at free terrorist arrangement across the world. While we host the G20, they host the T20. The top 20 terrorists of the world are hosted and patronised by the government in Pakistan. It is their stated policy right from Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11 terror attack. He was hidden, actively financed, aided, trained, and supported, and hidden from their so-called ally, the US. They shake hands with you, but they bite you on your back. This complicity in propagating and choreographing terrorism must be exposed relentlessly.

Roots of Terror

The world needs to be reminded constantly of Pakistan’s emergence as “Terroristan,” the fountainhead of global terrorism. There is abundant and incontrovertible evidence of the “roots of terror” in Pakistan. Pakistan has developed a terror model, an “atankistan” model, where the government trains, finances the terrorists, and tells them about strategy. When terror camps are targeted, their Army jumps in to retaliate. This criminal nexus of their Army, political parties, and their terrorists needs to be exposed worldwide. The world needs to be reminded that whether terror attacks occur in India, the US or European nations, the roots of terror can be traced to Pakistan.

It’s time for the sponsors of the Pahalgam terror attack to stop equivocation and doublespeak and face the consequences. India raised the bar by destroying terrorist camps deep inside Pakistan under Operation Sindoor. Over 100 terrorists were killed in these strikes. Imagine these terrorists could launch 100 terror attacks, not just in India, but across the world! The world should be thanking the armed forces of India for doing what they did.

Sinister Agenda

In my visits to different countries as part of diplomatic outreach, it was encouraging to see that our viewpoint on the Pahalgam attack and its cross-border links resonated across capitals. Those who masterminded and engineered Pahalgam attack had an insidious and lethal agenda. They targeted their victims on the basis of religious identity. They did this in the hope that they would divide this nation. But they were hugely deluded. People of India refused to be polarised and stood as one nation against the scourge of terrorism. India stands united, and it’s our diversity that we celebrate – the source of the nation’s unity, strength, and resilience.