Amid the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Indian Ambassador to the UN T S Tirumurti at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the issue demanded accountability from those responsible for emboldening extremists.
“For enduring peace in Afghanistan, terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries in the region must be dismantled immediately and terrorist supply chains disrupted. It needs to be ensured that Afghanistan’s neighbours and the region are not threatened by terrorism, separatism, and extremism,” President of the Security Council, Tirumurti, said in a veiled reference to Pakistan.
The UN Security Council, under the Presidency of India, held an urgent meeting on Friday to discuss the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, following multiple blasts in Kabul, including a car explosion outside the defence minister’s residence.
Afghanistan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar had on Tuesday requested a special discussion on the deteriorating situation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier called the Taliban “normal civilians”, not military outfits, and asked how the country was supposed to hunt them down when it has three million Afghan refugees at the border.
Tirumurti said at the meeting that there needed to be “zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.
“It is equally important to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to threaten or attack any other country. Those providing material and financial support to terrorist entities must be held accountable,” he said.
He said that as a neighbour of Afghanistan, the current situation prevailing in the country is of great concern to India.
“The violence shows no sign of abating. The report of the UN makes it clear that civilian casualties and targeted killings have reached record levels. There have been targeted attacks on religious and ethnic minorities, girl students, Afghan security forces, Ulemas, women occupying positions of responsibility, journalists, civil rights activists, and the youth,” Tirumurti said.
He said even UN compound had not been spared; the residence of the Defence Minister of Afghanistan had been attacked; an Indian journalist murdered while reporting, and that fighting continued in Helmand and Herat.
Tirumurti was referring to Pulitzer-prize winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who worked for Reuters news agency and was killed last month in Afghanistan while he was covering the fierce fighting between Afghan troops and Taliban militants near a border crossing with Pakistan in Kandahar province.
Making a statement in his national capacity, he said the international community cannot afford to set the clock back. The future of Afghanistan cannot be its past, he said.
Tirumurti told the powerful 15-nation UN body that it is time for the international community and, in particular, this Council to take stock of the situation, and decide on actions that would help bring a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire and ensure an immediate cessation of violence. “Anything short of this will constitute a serious threat to regional peace and security,” he said.
Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ghulam Isaczai, told the Council that the Taliban continue to enjoy a safe haven in and supply and logistic line extended to their war machine from Pakistan”.
“Graphic reports and video of Taliban fighters congregating close to the Durand Line to enter Afghanistan, fundraising events, transfer of dead bodies for mass burial, and treatment of injured Taliban in Pakistani hospitals are emerging and are widely available, he said.
Tirumurti said India has been supportive of all the efforts being made to accelerate the dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, including the intra-Afghan negotiations.
“If the peace process is to be successful, then it is necessary to ensure that the Taliban engage in negotiations in good faith, eschew the path of violence, sever ties with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations, and fully commit itself towards reaching a political solution. Violence and military threat cannot be used to strengthen the negotiating position. A tangible demonstration of this commitment is required,” he said.
Tirumurti underscored that India wishes to see an independent, peaceful, sovereign, democratic, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and reiterated New Delhi’s support for an inclusive, Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process.
Any political arrangement or settlement in Afghanistan must ensure that the gains of the last two decades are protected, and not reversed. These gains are non-negotiable. It should, therefore, preserve the constitutional democratic framework and ensure the protection of the rights of women, children and minorities, he said.
Any regime devoid of legitimacy in Afghanistan would find it difficult to garner much needed humanitarian and developmental assistance from the international donor community, he added.
He recalled External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks to the Security Council in June, when he had said that a durable peace in Afghanistan requires a genuine double peace — that is, peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan and it requires harmonising the interests of all, both within and around the country.
India voiced support for a leading role for the United Nations and called on the Secretary General to take an initiative towards finding a lasting and durable outcome.
“We welcome any move towards a genuine political settlement that leads to these objectives. The only way forward are negotiations that will provide an acceptable compromise reflecting the Doha Process, the Moscow Format and the Istanbul Process,” he said.
“On India’s part, we will continue to stand with Afghanistan in ensuring that peace and stability is restored through a legitimate and transparent democratic process that is essential for the long-term stability of Afghanistan and the region,” Tirumurti said.
With inputs from PTI
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