Heart of Asia to combat Pak-based terror outfits

New Delhi: Strong action against terror groups, including the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) involved in high-level of violence in the region, was demanded by the Amritsar Declaration that was adopted by the 6th Heart of Asia (HoA) conference on Sunday in Amritsar with the declaration “acknowledging the support that terrorism derives in our region”. Though combating terrorism was at the “core” of discussions at the annual HoA conference, which is meant to focus on efforts to reconstruct and stabilise war-torn Afghanistan, it could not firm up an Afghanistan-initiated proposal to set up a regional framework to counter the menace as many countries had not given their inputs.

Attended by some 40 countries, the two-day conference concluded with a strong declaration calling for concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism as well as dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in region as also disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support for terror networks. The naming of LeT and JeM in the Amritsar Declaration is a boost for India, considering these Pakistan-based terror groups were not named in the recent Brics Goa Declaration. In his statement, finance minister Arun Jaitley — who led the Indian delegation in the absence of ailing external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj — said, “For the first time, a Heart of Asia Declaration expressed concern at the violence caused in Afghanistan and the region by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, Daesh, LeT and JeM, etc.” Observers feel the declaration is a clear message to Pakistan — without naming it — that it should dismantle the safe havens of terrorism on its soil.

The Amritsar Declaration said, “We remain concerned by the gravity of the security situation in Afghanistan in particular and the region and the high level of violence caused by the Taliban, terrorist groups including ISIL/ DAISH and its affiliates, the Haq-qani Network, Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzb-ekistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, LeT, JeM, TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Jundullah and other foreign terrorist fighters. Acknowledging the support that terrorism derives in our region, we demand an immediate end to all forms of terrorism, as well as all support to it, including financing of terrorism. We recognise that terrorism is the biggest threat to peace, stability and cooperation in our region. We encourage the international community to continue to assist the Government of Afghanistan. We strongly call for concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, including dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in the Heart of Asia region, as well as disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support for terrorism.”

“We welcome and support Afghanistan’s initiative in taking the lead in exploring a regional counter-terror strategy, in accordance with the established principles of the UN charter, which we agreed was necessary when we last met in Islamabad in December 2015. We note the progress that has been made since the last Ministerial with an Ambassadorial meeting of the CT-CBM participating countries at which a draft framework strategy was shared by Afghanistan for further consideration and development. We call for convening an early meeting of experts to discuss the draft framework strategy with the view to its finalisation for consideration by senior security officials,” it said.

“We are concerned about the increase in production and cultivation of opium in Afghanistan, the volume of drug trafficking and demand in the HoA Region and beyond. This requires further eradication efforts and poses a threat to the socio-economic development, security and stability not only in Afghanistan, but also in the surrounding region and the world as a whole. We understand that acuteness and global scale of the drug threat requires appropriate international efforts aimed at intensifying measures to fight drugs production and trafficking in Afghanistan and the region of HoA,” the Declaration said.

Mr. Jaitley said, The three big issues of the conference were—-Countering terrorism to create stability and security in Afghanistan, Providing Afghanistan connectivity to strengthen economic activities, and Development, which is essential for the progress of Afghanistan.”

He added, “The Conference was attended by delegations from practically every participating country, supporting countries and international organisations – 45 in all.”

The participating countries of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process at the two-day Amritsar HoA conference on Afghanistan that concluded on Sunday included——apart from Afghanistan and host India——Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations. The Conference also saw the presence and participation of guest countries Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia and Uzbekistan. The other supporting countries and international and regional organisations included Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Poland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Collective Security Treaty Organisations (CSTO), Economic Cooperation Organisations (ECO), North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).