Petition to condemn Pak over terrorism hits record signs in UK

London, Oct 2: A new petition filed on the official UK Parliament website calling on Britain to "strongly condemn" Pakistan for providing a safe haven for terrorists today crossed the threshold of 10,000 signatures, making it incumbent upon the UK government to respond to it.

The petition titled 'UK Govt to strongly condemn Pakistan or providing safe haven for terrorists' has now crossed the number of signatures required to make it incumbent upon the UK government to respond to it.

But the aim is to gather as many as 100,000 signatures by the March 29, 2017 deadline so that the issue has to be considered for a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons.

"Pakistan continues to double speak on issue of terrorism. It has aided & abetted enemies of the international coalition (of which Britain is a leading partner with the US) against terrorism. Osama Bin Laden's hideout was in Pakistan. Pakistan continues to harbour UN sanctioned terror networks," reads the petition, authored by an Indian-origin professional Naman Paropkari.

It goes on: "The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has often been accused of playing a role in major terrorist attacks across the world including the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, terrorism in Kashmir, Indian Parliament Attack and Mumbai terror attacks."

"It has been noted by many that several militant & criminal groups are backed by senior officers in the Pakistani army & the country's ISI intelligence establishment. Daniel Byman says Pakistan is probably today's most active sponsor of terrorism," the petition said.

Byman is a professor at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service in the Security Studies Programme and Department of Government.

Tensions between India and Pakistan are growing after militants stormed an Indian Army base in Uri on September 18, killing 19 soldiers.

The terror launch pads across the border were targeted by the Indian Army last week, inflicting "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

PTI