Delhi, Kabul warn China: Pakistan maybe your ally but it exports terror

Ananth Krishnan

With rising concerns in Beijing on the spread of terror from Pakistan hitting its frontier Xinjiang region, China has appeared to rethink its long-held reluctance to discuss regional concerns — particularly in New Delhi and Kabul — on cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, according to officials present at Friday's key regional meet on Afghanistan.

Indian and Afghan officials present at the fourth "Istanbul process" foreign ministerial Afghanistan conference being held in Beijing told India Today that there was a discernible shift in China's stand on terrorism, in the wake of a string of attacks in its western Muslim majority frontier region, blamed by the authorities on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), some of whose members are thought to be hiding out near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Terrorism received prominent attention at Friday's consultations. And unusually for a meeting being hosted in Beijing, Afghan officials were outspoken about their concerns on extremist groups operating close to the Pakistan border.

Speaking after the conference, Afghan Foreign Minister Zarar Ahmad Osmani said to a question from India Today about cross-border terror that "the reasons for the existence and presence of terrorism in the region has to be identified".

"One of the issues that was under discussion at this conference was the presence of Taliban in Afghanistan," he said. "The reason for their presence has to be identified," he added, alluding to Afghan concerns on Pakistani support for groups in border regions.

Osmani said, speaking through a translator, that the regional effort would not only need international cooperation, but also an effort to address factors "outside and inside Afghanistan" that "provide a situation for (militant groups)" to exist.

Asked by India Today if China was prepared to take steps to address Afghan and Indian concerns on terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "I am happy to tell you that among the confidence building measures we agreed today, the first is on counterterrorism".

"We believe that the international community should not accept any forms of terrorism," he said. "During the conference we have had an extensive exchange of views on the topic."

An Indian official present at Friday's meet said that it was striking that the terror issue took centre stage. "At one point this was as sensitive for China as [raising] the South China Sea" considering Beijing's "all-weather" ties with Pakistan, the official said.

India was represented at Friday's meet by Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (retd) VK Singh.

Speaking to the Indian media following his meeting with Foreign Minister Wang, he said China was "concerned on the spread of terrorism", which was also concern shared by India. "We had a convergence of views on this particular issue," he said. "Afghanistan should not again become a safe haven for terrorism. China said India should continue to play an important role for security issues in Afghanistan".

Gen. (retd) Singh, who is also Minister of State for Development of the North Eastern Region, said India and China were working on taking forward the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor project, which could have a bearing on the Northeast's economy.

He said the first priority was to boost infrastructure for the eight northeastern states, with the new government increasing allocations, such as a 58 per cent rise in the railway budget. "Our projects were in hibernation in the last 15 years," he said, "including the road network".

India is also beefing up air connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh. "For Itanagar airport, the land problem has been sorted out, at Pasigath the runway has been lengthened," he said. For strategically significant Tawang, located near the China border, he said he was hopeful "one day Tawang will take an aircraft". "The availability of land is not there, and we have to look at it differently," he said. "We have to put people to study [the possibility]."

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