India to back Pakistan if it nails terror

Home minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday said India will stand by Pak-istan if it takes decisive action against terrorists and their organisations.

Addressing the valedictory session of the Counter Terrorism Conference 2016 here, the home minister said that most of the terrorist attacks in India emanate from Pakistan, and it will have to show some sincerity and take concrete steps to rein in the various terror groups operating against India from its soil.

“If Pakistan takes concrete action against terrorists on its territory it will not only improve the bilateral ties between both the countries but also bring peace and stability in the South Asian region. The government of India will stand by Pakistan if it takes decisive action against terrorists and their organisations,” he added.

According to him for India, the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks have signified a tectonic shift. While the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 brought terror across the seas to our economic capital, there was a conscious effort to target sensitive assets of the country and also cause large scale casualties in the recent attack on Pathankot airbase, thus taking the dynamics of terror attack in India a notch higher.

However, the home minister praised security forces and intelligence for neutralising the impact of the terror attack.

“We are now formulating an effective strategy which would help in preventing our country from such terror attacks in future,” he said.

Meanwhile, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar has said that Indian and Pakistan are in constant touch. “We are in touch at my level and at NSA level because only by remaining in touch, we can expect them to progress on the basis of information which we have provided to them,” he said.

The foreign secretary also suggested that countries that support terrorism must be named and shamed. He said that tolerance for double standards on this issue must be equally frankly exposed. “Even as we work to advance the prospects of a Compre-hensive Conven-tion on International Terrorism, there are a number of interim steps,” he said.