UNITED NATIONS (TIP): India has expressed dismay at the failure of the UN Secretary General’s report on ISIS to take note of the close links between proscribed terrorist groups, such as Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, despite New Delhi repeatedly flagging these concerns. India has been consistently highlighting the threat of terrorism in its neighborhood. It has said these security fears have been further exacerbated by the changed political situation in Afghanistan. The ‘14th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIS to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of member states in countering the threat’ notes that the security landscape in Afghanistan changed dramatically on August 15, following a Taliban military campaign that took control in the country, including Kabul. The report says the dreaded Islamic State terrorist group aims to position itself as the “chief rejectionist force” in Afghanistan, expands into neighboring Central and South Asian countries and is viewed by the Taliban as its primary armed threat. Speaking at the Security Council briefing on ‘Threat to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts’ that took up the UNSG report, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said on Wednesday, February 9, that India had been reiterating the close links between proscribed terrorist entities such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terror groups, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad. “It is essential that we don’t lose sight of the ease with which the proscribed Haqqani Network, with support from their patron state, have worked along with prominent terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida and ISIS-K in South Asia,” he said, in a reference to Pakistan.

(Source: PTI)