The external affairs minister said it is for the international systems to create necessary mechanisms to shut down structures supporting terrorism

While presiding over the Darbari Seth memorial lecture, Jaishankar said the 9/11 terror attacks in the US and the COVID-19 pandemic are “stand-out moments that disrupted the trajectory of human society”.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday slammed Pakistan for portraying itself as a “victim of terror”, and said it had to “grudgingly acknowledge” the presence of wanted terrorists and crime leaders on its soil due to international pressure.

While presiding over the Darbari Seth memorial lecture, he said the 9/11 terror attacks in the US and the COVID-19 pandemic are “stand-out moments that disrupted the trajectory of human society”.

He said today, the world has a range of mechanisms to counter-terrorism, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), several UN sanctions committees and the Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate. But it lacks a comprehensive convention on international terrorism as UN members are still “wrestling with certain foundational principles”, he said.

“All the while, states that have turned the production of terrorists into a primary export have attempted, by dint of bland denials, to paint themselves also as victims of terror,” Jaishankar said, in an oblique reference to Pakistan.

“But as we have seen last week, sustained pressure through international mechanisms to prevent the movement of funds for terror groups and their front agencies can work. It has eventually compelled a state complicit in aiding, abetting, training and directing terror groups and associated criminal syndicates to grudgingly acknowledge the presence of wanted terrorists and organised crime leaders on its territory,” he said.