Finally, the world has stirred. The Uri terror attack which resulted in the death of 18 Indian soldiers, has attracted international condemnation. Two out of five permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Russia and France, have referred to Pakistan or Pakistan-based organisations while talking about the Uri attack.
Yesterday, American lawmakers introduced a bill in the US Congress aimed at designating Pakistan a terrorist state. China, considered to be a faithful Pakistan ally, has also officially stated that it “opposes and condemns all kinds of terrorism”.
But if this is all it takes to declare Pakistan a terrorist state, why hasn’t it been done before. Why is it so difficult to isolate Pakistan internationally?
Scoopwhoop News spoke to G Parthasarathy, India’s former High Commissioner to Pakistan and foreign affairs expert, to find out what it will take to diplomatically isolate Pakistan.
‘India will have to prove that the Pakistan government is directly involved’
“If we are saying that Pakistan is a terrorist state, we need to have some concrete proof for that,” says Parthasarathy.
And how do we do that?
“The fact that the weapons used by the terrorists were not manufactured in India has already been proved,” says Parthasarathy.
However, it might take some time to link these weapons to Pakistan, the former diplomat points out.
“For our intelligence have to do a fair deal for digging around for that,” he says.
‘The time is ripe now’
According to Parthasarathy, Pakistan has already alienated most of its neighbours.
“Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India have already said that Pakistan sponsors terrorism,” he says.
India has to be forceful in its response, says the former diplomat.
“Terrorist activities continue despite the condition of our bilateral ties. The world has seen it now,” says Parthasarathy.
What will it take for America to declare Pakistan a terrorist state ?
“America has economic interests in Pakistan, that will always be crucial in its response to things,” says Parthasarathy.
However, the US has of late been stern with the country.
“They haven’t imposed sanctions of them recently but they did say that Pakistan needs to go after terrorists groups operating out of the country recently,” he says.
Though the US was more pro-active in its dealing with the 26/11 attacks, it did not impose sanctions on Pakistan after them.
“If the US has to impose sanction on Pakistan, it will again need proof without any reasonable doubt that Pakistan government was involved in some way in the attack,” he says.
