Terrorist attacks in India emanate from Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh

Holding Pakistan responsible for violence and instability in the entire South Asian Region, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that most of the terrorist attacks in India emanate from Pakistan.

“It will have to show some sincerity and take concrete steps to rein in the various terror groups operating against India from its soil,” Rajnath told an International Conference on Counter Terrorism at Jaipur in Rajasthan.

“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, " he said.

"The government of India will stand by Pakistan if it takes decisive action against terrorists and their organizations," he said.

He said that for India, Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks have signified a tectonic shift.

“Mumbai terror attack in 2008 brought terror across the seas to our commercial capital causing huge innocent civilian casualties.

Similarly, the recent Pathankot air base was a  conscious effort to target sensitive assets of the country and also cause large scale casualties, thus taking the dynamics of terror attack in India a notch higher,” the minister said.

After the Pathankot terror attack Indian government is reviewing its Counter Terror strategy.

“We are now formulating an effective strategy which would help protect our country from such terror attacks in future. We are fully equipped and prepared to deal with Cross border terrorism or any kind of terrorism. We are working on a National Security Strategy aiming to achieve seamless coordination between all the agencies,” Singh said.

He said that drug trafficking, hawala transactions and supply of counterfeit currency are some of the known sources of terror funding.

“It is a big challenge to cut the supply lines of terrorist organizations and their activities. There has to be global strategy and better coordination among likeminded nations against terrorism, if we want to disrupt the supply of funds to terror activities,” the minister said.

Referring to the IS, Singh said that it’s a cause of grave concern that the Cyber World is being exploited by terror groups such as DAESH or ISIS to radicalise the gullible youth of our country.

“Exploiting the power of internet and ideological motivation, terror groups like DAESH and Al Qaeda have already flooded the cyber world with literature pertaining to bomb making and suicide attacks,” he said adding India stands firmly behind the International community in the fight against terrorism.