India targets Pak, says 26/11 accused not yet punished

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, September 29

India today said while assisting the victims of terrorism, the world should not lose sight of their right to get justice for the crimes committed against them.

The victims of 2008 Mumbai terror attack and 2016 Pathankot attack, for instance, are yet to get justice due to the unwillingness and non-cooperative attitude of a particular country in an oblique reference to Pakistan, outgoing Secretary (East), MEA, Vijay Thakur Singh said at a meeting organised by foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Spain and the UN Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT).

“It is important that we must work towards redressing deficiencies in the international efforts to ensure that perpetrators of terrorism are brought to justice,” she emphasised.

“While terrorists can never succeed in achieving their objectives, they leave behind a trail of death and destruction. Even amid the ongoing pandemic, terrorism continues to pose a critical threat to international peace and security. Terrorists have stepped up the use of ICT for propaganda and for issuing threats further exacerbating the stress on victims of terror,” she said.

“This meeting is, therefore, very timely to discuss our collective way forward to address the critical needs of the victims of terrorism,” said the MEA Secretary.

She pointed out that the first UN Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism in 2021 and the 7th Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy should help build on the momentum gathered so far.

A dedicated voluntary fund to support the victims of terrorism would strengthen United Nation’s capacity-building and technical assistance to requesting member states in assisting and supporting victims of terrorism, she suggested.

However, the three options proposed for setting up of a funding mechanism by the Secretary General need further deliberations at the expert level so that the funding can be effective and efficiently use resources, she added.