ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday said it shared international concerns about a terrorism threat in the region, but, alluding to India, called for attention to the rise of extremist ideologies and persecution of minorities in its neighbourhood.

“Pakistan is also seriously concerned about the threat posed by terrorism and extremism in the South Asian region,” Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a rejoinder to the BRICS summit’s declaration, which mentioned Pakistan-based terrorist groups as a threat to regional security.

BRICS Leaders Xiamen Declaration unprecedentedly noted that “the security situation in the region and violence caused by the Taliban, ISIS, Al Qaida and its affiliates including Eas­tern Turkistan Islamic Mov­ement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizbut Tahrir” were concerning for the bloc comprising the five emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It also called for holding to account those “committing, organising, or supporting terrorist acts”.

The document, however, did not name Pakistan, although by identifying the terrorist groups that were of concern, BRICS leaders barely concealed their reference to Pakistan, where LeT, JeM and Haqqani network are alleged to be having their bases.

Calls for attention to rise of extremist ideologies, persecution of minorities in India

Defence Minister Khur­ram Dastagir, while speaking to media after a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence, denied the presence of terrorist safe havens on Pakistani territory.

The inclusion of names of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in the summit document was seen as a major diplomatic victory for India that had for the past couple of years been trying to ratchet up international pressure on Pakistan.

Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had at the BRICS summit, in an allusion to Pakistan, called it “mother-ship of terrorism”. But still the final document of the 2016 Goa summit did not go beyond condemning “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations” because China, Pakistan’s closest ally, was not ready to join others on this issue.

China, which is in cooperation with Pakistan undertaking the $51 billion communications and infrastructure project — CPEC — has in the past blocked Indian attempts to get JeM chief Mullah Masood Azhar included in the UN terror blacklist.

To that extent the naming of Pakistan-based groups in the BRICS summit’s statement was worrying for Pakistan.

The Foreign Office in its statement observed that many terrorist groups operating in the region were based in Afghanistan due to “ungoverned spaces” there.

“Many terrorist groups based in the region, including in Afghanistan, such as the TTP and its associates like JuA have been responsible for extreme acts of violence against Pakistani people. We are deeply concerned at the presence of groups like Daesh, ETIM and IMU in the ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan as they pose a threat to peace and security in the region,” it said.

Much like Pakistan, which was not directly named in the Xiamen declaration, the FO used the rejoinder to hit out at India for the rise of Hindu extremism and targeting of minorities, without naming it.

“Pakistan also remains concerned at the rise of extremist ideologies and intolerance in the region encouraging social stratification and systematic targeting of minorities,” it maintained.

Pakistan has been a vocal critic of Indian treatment of its minorities, including Muslims, Dalits and Christians, and has been seeking international attention to the rising intolerance, extremism and religious bigotry in India.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2017