Terrorism hampers the process of development, Central Asian countries

Samarkand: Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj clarified that terrorism is an obstacle to development. ‘No business development, no investment can take place in a country suffering from terrorism. To promote business development in our region, we agreed to fight the scourge of terrorism together’, Foreign Minister Swaraj, while addressing the meeting of India with the Central Asia Countries denounced terrorism in strong words and said it was necessary for all the countries to find out, where do these terrorists come from? And Who funds them? The Central Asian countries supported the Indian stand and denounced terrorism in strong words.

The Indian Foreign Minister castigated the Pakistani terrorist policies without mentioning the name, in the meeting being held in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan attended this conference of India and the Central Asian countries. Although the objective of the conference is to increase the economic and trade cooperation, the Indian Foreign Minister pointed out that the Pakistan sponsored terrorism is coming in the way of the development and cooperation.

India has consistently criticised the Pakistani terrorism policies on the international stage. The Indian leaders have taken the precaution not to mention the name so that the importance of this country does not increase. Foreign Minister Swaraj also took this precaution. But Swaraj lashed out at terrorism in strong words and warned that this problem is coming in the way of development of these countries. Swaraj pointed to the ill effects of terrorism saying that the countries plagued with terrorism do not progress economically and there is no investment coming to these countries.

India and the Central Asian countries along with Afghanistan, face a major threat of terrorism. Therefore, Swaraj said that everyone needs to think, where these terrorists come from and who is funding them. Swaraj also pointed out that at the same time, the societies in India, Afghanistan and the Central Asian Countries are all-embracing, but the terrorists are sponsoring and spreading hateful ideology.

Foreign Minister Swaraj assured that India is committed to the development of terrorism torn Afghanistan. India will fully support the peace process in Afghanistan.

But Foreign Minister Swaraj expressed an expectation that this peace process should be under the leadership of the Afghans, initiated by Afghans and under the Afghan control. Foreign Minister Swaraj was indicating in other words that there should be no interference from a terrorism-prone country like Pakistan in the process.

Meanwhile, the Central Asian countries including Afghanistan supported the tough Indian stance against terrorism. This was reflected in the joint statement released after the conference. The joint Statement denounces terrorism in every form in powerful words. At the same time, India, Central Asian countries and Afghanistan have agreed to increase cooperation against terrorism, accepting the need to cooperate more against terrorism.

Foreign Minister Swaraj presented a proposal to form a separate development Group for Indian and the Central Asian countries. Swaraj referred to the Chabahar port developed jointly by India, Afghanistan and Iran, which will give an impetus to the trade between these three countries. Swaraj pointed out that the Indian trade with the Central Asian countries will also mainly benefit because of this port.