Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism - The Pathankot attack

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Abstract

At their latest summit in June 2016, the European and Indian authorities identified terrorism as one of the major areas of common concern. European and Indian leaders condemned “the recent terror attacks in Brussels and Paris, Pathankot and Gurdaspur and -recalling the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai- called for the perpetrators of these attacks to be brought to justice. Leaders called for decisive and united actions to be taken against ISIL (Da'esh), Lashkar-e-Tayibba, JaisheiMohammad, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network and other internationally active terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.” (India - EU Joint Declaration on the Fight Against Terrorism, 30 March 2016, par. 4). While the immediate objective of the Pathankot attack –to inflict considerable damage to the air logistics of the Indian armed forces– was not achieved, so far the Pakistani military establishment has been successful in its strategic objective to derail the Indo-Pakistani diplomatic dialogue, while avoiding any sanctions for their blatant disregard of international law and openly supporting terrorism. Although we understand how counterintuitive this may sound to some, we believe that Indian authorities should not abandon talks with Pakistan and should avoid a diplomatic gridlock. SADF strongly believes that the Europe Union should build on its firm condemnation of cross-border terrorism – and in particular the Pathankot attack – and on this basis to promote a dialogue between the parties that will foster peace, cooperation and democracy in South Asia.