India and Pakistan are in touch “on a daily basis” over Pathankot investigations, and will continue to remain engaged, the Indian government said on Wednesday.
“Since Pathankot attack happened, we have been in touch with Pakistan. We have been in touch at my level and the NSA level and will continue to do so because only by remaining in touch, we can expect them to progress on issues of terror on the basis of information which we have provided to them,” Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said, responding to a question from The Hindu at the counterterrorism conference in Jaipur, on whether the government is now willing to see “talks and terror” go together.
Jaishankar’s remarks are significant as they come two weeks after foreign secretary-level talks were put off in the aftermath of the Pathankot attacks, without any confirmation about when they may be held next. Last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted that the attacks had “disturbed talks that were going in the right direction” and committed to going to “any length to bring the perpetrators to book”.
The delay in announcement of Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad for the talks has led to speculation that India is holding out for more visible action from the Pakistan government against the Jaish-e-Mohammad and its chief Masood Azhar, suspected for having carried out the attacks.
Jaishankar’s remark that engagement is necessary, however, indicates that the Indian government is still hopeful of the action being taken.
Jaishankar also spoke at the conference organised by the India foundation about “naming and shaming” the perpetrators and the countries that support terrorism. His comments come a day after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had called for states who sponsor terror or fund, arm or provide legal support to terrorists to be identified and ostracised by the international community.
Interestingly, despite obvious references to the situation with Pakistan, neither of the government’s top security officials named Pakistan in their statements, underlining the softer position towards dealing with Islamabad until the results of its investigation on Pathankot would be declared.
Making a pitch for the Indian-sponsored Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) to be passed by the UN, Jaishankar said that only if regimes are responsible and accountable can “the freedom of non-state actors to propagate, operate and perpetrate” be curtailed. India had tabled the CCIT at the UN in 1996, but it has yet to be passed by the UN.
Last month External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj won support from the Arab league which has so far avoided accepting the convention because of differences over the definition of terrorism.
“The (CCIT) initiative has now gathered greater traction as the specter of global terrorism appears more threatening,” Jaishankar told the conference attended by delegates from about 25 countries that concluded in Jaipur on Wednesday with a speech from Home Minister Rajnath Singh.