Thimpu: India’s Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday appeared to hit out at Pakistan as he said that blaming “non-state actors” for terrorism against other nations was not a valid excuse as long as militancy emanated from its soil.
“As long as the territory of a country is used by non-state actors to prepare for terrorist attacks, that country owes a legal and moral responsibility to its neighbours and to the world to suppress those non-State actors and bring them to justice,” he said.
Chidambaram was speaking at the fourth meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) interior/home ministers in Thimphu, Bhutan
Describing terrorism as “the single largest hindrance to socio-economic development” in the region, the Indian Home Minister said that the challenge could only be tackled by effective cooperation between the members.
“Sometimes, I think that the distinction between state actors and non-state actors is misplaced and intended to misdirect our efforts to deal with terrorist groups at the very source – the recruitment centres, the training camps and their safe havens and sanctuaries,” he said.
“...No State and no Government can escape responsibility by pointing to non-state actors,” he added...What we need now is to be more proactive in implementing our resolutions in letter and spirit,” he added.
Chidambaram has often spoken out openly against Pakistan’s seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards keeping a check on homegrown terror that has targeted India.
Most notably, Pakistan’s slow pace on helping India convict the Pakistan-based terrorists responsible for the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai that left 166 people dead and over 300 wounded, has drawn sharp criticism form the Home Minister on several occasions.