INDIA WILL ENSURE GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT ON CROSS-BORDER TERROR STAYS, SAYS JAISHANKAR
NEW DELHI: India will keep the world community’s focus on Pakistan’s role in cross-border terrorism, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on the 12th anniversary of the Mumbai attacks even as the US reaffirmed its commitment to hold responsible the perpetrators of the carnage in India’s financial hub.
A 10-member group of terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had launched attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. A total of 166 people, including six American nationals, were killed as the terrorists rampaged through parts of the city for almost three days.
“Will keep the global spotlight firmly on the menace of crossborder terrorism against India. And on the epicentre of global terrorism,” Jaishankar, currently on a three-nation tour of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Seychelles, said in a tweet without naming Pakistan.
Indian officials often use the term “epicentre of terrorism” to refer to Pakistan, which arrested seven men, including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, weeks after the attacks in Mumbai. Though the men were put on trial and dozens of prosecution witnesses testified about their involvement in planning, funding and supporting the attacks, little headway has been made in their prosecution. Jaishankar also paid homage to victims of the terror attacks and lauded the security forces “who continue to defend our nation so resolutely”.