Conference at the European Parliament on 'Role of Pakistani Army in Promoting Militancy in South Asia'

BRUSSELS, February 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

A conference on the 'Role of the Pakistani Army in promoting militancy in South Asia' was held at the European Parliament on January 31, 2017. Hosted by Members of the European Parliament, the participants discussed the nexus between the security establishment in Pakistan and the terror groups, which in turn had resulted in the alarming growth of terror modules, not only endangering the security of South Asia but also spilling over to Europe and other parts of the world.

Fulvio Martusciello, MEP from Italy speaking on the 'de facto patronage' received by terrorist groups like the Haqqani network, the Afghan Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Taiba from the Pakistani military, stressed on the need for Pakistan to stop being in denial of being the epicenter of terror. He warned that the State support to these groups had resulted in their increasing involvement in criminal activities, which in future would make these groups more financially and operationally autonomous.

Peter Silva, expert on South Asia spoke of traditional and non-traditional threats faced by sovereign countries due to terrorist networks being allowed to thrive and operate in an ideologically motivated environment. He also stressed on the need for an effective trans-national cooperation to break this support structure built for terror groups.

Another speaker, Patricijia Sulin, MEP from Slovenia stated that weak States like Pakistan found it attractive to use non-State actors for their strategic use. In this context, she mentioned that Pakistan had continued to train terrorists in camps in order to carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in India. She hoped that Pakistan would recognize that its strategy of supporting jihad has become a liability and unequivocally end this support.

Alberto Cirio, MEP also enumerated how the Pakistani Army aided terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.

Viorica Dancila MEP referring to the case of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden being provided a safe haven in Abbottabad by the Pakistani intelligence, said that the international community should have no doubt about Pakistan's support to the very terror groups that threatened peace.

Indrek Tarand, MEP calling Pakistan an exporter of terrorism and hoped that responsible countries would come down strongly on its government. All speakers agreed it was essential for the international community to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation to defeat this threat.