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Naming Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohamamad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said some countries were using terror as a tool to achieve political objectives and pressed for “deterrent” action collectively by the G20 members against such nations.
Addressing the G20 Summit in this German city, he equated the LeT and JeM as also the Haqqani network to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, saying their names may be different but their ideology is the same.
With leaders like US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping listening, Modi regretted that the international response to terrorism was weak and said more cooperation was needed to fight the menace.
The Indian prime minister presented an 11-point ‘Action Agenda’ which included suggestions for exchange of lists of terrorists among G20 nations, easing and expediting of legal processes like extradition and concrete steps to choke funds and weapon supply to the terrorists.
“Some nations are using terrorism for achieving political goals,” Modi said in a clear reference to Pakistan.
He said LeT, JeM and the Haqqani network terror groups were active in South Asia like Daesh and Al Qaeda were in the Middle East and Boko Haram in Nigeria.
While LeT and JeM have been targeting India, the Haqqani network has been repeatedly carrying out attacks in Afghanistan, including on Indian assets there.
“Their only ideology is to spread hatred and commit massacres,” Modi said.
Regretting that the international response to terrorism has been “weak”, Modi said the nations are less networked in dealing with the menace while the terrorists are better networked.
In the ‘Action Agenda’, the prime minister suggested, “there should be a deterrent action against nations supporting terrorism and officials of such nations should be barred from entry into G20 member countries.”
He said there should be an exchange of lists of terrorists among the G20 member countries and a collective action against supporters of terror.
“The legal processes like extradition should be simplified and expedited for effective cooperation against terrorism,” he said.
The Financial Action Task Force and other mechanisms to choke sources of funds to terrorists should be strengthened, he said.
On the pattern of FATF, a body Explosives Action Task Force should be constituted “so that the sources of deadly arms reaching the terrorists can be ended,” he added.
Modi also pitched for concrete cooperation among the G20 countries with focus on cyber security.