Pak pursuing terror as instrument of state policy: India

New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) India has hit out at Pakistanfor pursuing terrorism as an "instrument of state policy",saying such a strategy was "flawed and self-defeating".

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who is likely to meether Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Thimphu on themargins of a SAARC Committee meeting, said "Some countriespresume that they can pursue terrorism as an instrument ofstate policy without risks to themselves or to their standingin the international community.

"This is a flawed and self-defeating presumption asthe war on terrorism cannot be selective. We have alwaysmaintained that a stable and prosperous Pakistan is in India�sinterest. Pakistan must turn away from using terror-inducedcoercion as an instrument of policy against India."

Rao, who was delivering a speech at a seminar on''Asian Security Challenges'' asserted that "the epicentre ofglobal terrorism is located in our neighbourhood".

Apart from asking Pakistan to fulfill its commitmentof not allowing its territory to be used against anti-Indiaacts during the meeting, Rao is also expected to raise India''sdemand for expeditious punishment for all those responsiblefor the Mumbai terror attacks especially in view of HomeSecretary G K Pillai''s recent remarks that attempts to bringthe guilty in Mumbai attacks to justice "has not moved aninch" in Pakistan.

Noting that the horrendous attacks on the IndianEmbassy in Kabul and the Mumbai attacks two years agodemonstrated the barbaric forms that terrorism can take, Raosaid there are terror groups, some that even enjoy thepatronage of elements of state structures, that target Indiafrom across our borders.

"These groups are developing transnational linkages,in terms of recruitment, training, planning and financing ofspecific attacks. There is increasing evidence that Al-Qaeda,the LeT and the Taliban are conducting coordinated and in factoperationally fused terror attacks," she said.

The roll back and elimination of the terrorinfrastructure in Pakistan can go a long way in securingstability and security not just in South Asia, but more widelyacross Asia and indeed the globe, the Foreign Secretary said.

Without naming Pakistan, Rao also criticised it forinterfering with Afghanistan''s internal affairs in the name of''strategic depth�.

"The Afghan people should be allowed to rebuild theirland in conditions of peace and security, free frominterference from their neighbours. The Afghan people havetime and again proven that they would like to be arbiters oftheir own destiny and would not like to be dictated to bythose seeking to impose their own narrow strategiccalculations.

"Any attempts to seek so called �strategic depth�would flounder against the reality of the indomitable sense ofAfghan independence and nationalism," she said.