Indian officials have reported drones coming in from Pakistan to drop weapons and drugs for terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir….reports Arul Louis
New Delhi has called for international condemnation of Pakistan sending weapons across the international border to terrorists operating in India.
“We are facing a serious challenge of cross-border supply of illicit weapons using drones, which cannot be possible without active support from the authorities in control of those territories,” India’s Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj told the Security Council on Monday.
“The international community should condemn such behaviour and hold such states accountable for their misdeeds,” she said.
Although Kamboj did not name Pakistan, the reference to the country was obvious.
Indian officials have reported drones coming in from Pakistan to drop weapons and drugs for terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir.
Last year till November, at least 22 such drones were reported captured by Indian agencies and 266 drone infiltrations were reported during the year.
In January, India’s Border Security Force discovered a drone dropping weapons in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.
Participating in the Council session on threats and risks to international security from the illicit export of weapons, Kamboj also warned about the collusion between terrorists and certain countries that arm them.
“The quantum of these (terrorist) threats multiplies when certain states with dubious proliferation credentials, in view of their masked proliferation networks and deceptive procurement practices of sensitive goods and technologies, collude with terrorists and other non-state actors,” she said.
Again without naming Pakistan, she said: “For example, the rise in volume and the quality of the small arms acquired by terrorist organisations remind us time and again that they cannot exist without the sponsorship or support of states.
“The export of weapons and military equipment in violation of international law, exacerbating geo-political tensions, cannot be ignored.”
The Council meeting was convened by Russia as the president of the Council for this month in an attempt to draw attention to the supply of weapons by the West to Ukraine, although it does not generally appear to contravene international arms agreements.
Russia’s Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzia asserted that the weapons provided to Ukraine are finding their way to “criminals and terrorists via black markets”.
“Weapons that Western states delivered to Ukraine started to surface in various European states, where it adds to the arsenals of organised crime, a fact confirmed by European police officers. Such weapons also spread throughout the world, in particular, it finds its way to the militants in Africa.”
The US’ Alternate Representative Robert Wood accused Russia of getting weapons from “rogue states” like North Korea in violation of international regulations.
Russia had received infantry rockets and missiles in November last year in violation of Security Council resolutions, he said, and noted that again in violation of Security Council resolutions, Russia received drones from Iran and used them to attack civilians in Ukraine.
Responding to Nebenzia’s criticism of the West for supplying to weapons to Ukraine, Japan’s Deputy Permanent Representative Shino Mitsuko said that “we must look at the fundamental cause of the issue — Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.
She said that Ukraine was exercising its right of self-defence against aggression by Russia.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
