India moves to mount global pressure on Pak

RETALIATION Jaitley announces Pak’s MFN status revoked, Pak faces complete isolation

NEW DELHI: India on Friday launched a coordinated move to mount global pressure on Islamabad to crack down on terrorists operating from its soil, with finance minister Arun Jaitley saying the government will take all steps to ensure the “complete isolation” of Pakistan.

As a first step, Jaitley announced after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security that India will withdraw the Most Favoured Nation-status, which allows for non-discriminatory trade, granted to Pakistan in 1996.

He said the government will take “all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan” as there is “incontrovertible evidence” linking it to Thursday’s attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber that killed 40 troopers.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood to the external affairs ministry and issued a “very strong” demarche or formal diplomatic representation on the Pulwama attack, people familiar with developments said.

Gokhale made it clear Pakistan must take “immediate and verifiable action” against JeM and it “must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism operating from its territories”, a person said. The foreign secretary rejected the Pakistan Foreign Office’s statement of Thursday that said Islamabad was being blamed for the attack without Investigations.

India’s envoy to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, was called to New Delhi for consultations on Saturday and the people quoted above said the government was considering the option of downgrading diplomatic ties with Islamabad. The last time New Delhi had resorted to such a step was after the 2001 terror attack on the Parliament, which too was blamed on JeM.

Subsequently, Gokhale briefed 25 heads of missions – including the P5 or five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the US, the UK, China, Russia and France, all South Asian countries and important partners such as Israel, Japan, Germany and South Korea – on the JeM’s role in the Pulwama attack. Gokhale held separate meetings with the envoys of the US, China and Russia. The person quoted above said that during the meeting with Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui, Gokhale spoke on the issue of JeM and Pakistan and mentioned the move to list JeM chief Masood Azhar by UN’s 1267 Committee, which has been repeatedly blocked by Beijing.

The envoys “were left in no doubt about the role played by Pakistan-based and supported JeM in the terrorist attack and our demand that Pakistan ceases forthwith all support and financing to terror groups operating from areas under their control”, the person added.

Gokhale highlighted Pakistan’s role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy and the external affairs ministry will continue to take all steps to expose Pakistan’s complicity in the Pulwama attack and demand action against JeM, the person said.

Senior officials of the commerce ministry, who didn’t want to be identified, said two options were being considered for revoking the MFN-status, including unilateral action or by invoking Article 21 of GATT that allows a state to act to protect its national security. The second option, the officials said, will require some time.

FOREIGN SECRETARY MADE IT CLEAR THAT PAKISTAN MUST TAKE IMMEDIATE AND VERIFIABLE ACTION AGAINST JEM, A PERSON FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER SAID