India's veiled attack on Pakistan at the UN Security Council meeting comes two days after the first visit of Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to Afghanistan, where he assured President Ashraf Ghani that Islamabad would do all it could to support the peace process.
India's Permanent Representative to United Nations (UN), Ambassador T. S. Tirumurti has called for a stop to be put to “terrorist safe havens” operating across the Durand Line (the Afghanistan-Pakistan border) in order to achieve durable peace in Afghanistan, in remarks implicitly directed at Pakistan.
The Durand Line is the the 2,640-kilometre (1,640-mile) border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The remarks by the Indian diplomat come on the heels of announcement by the US that it would be drawing down its troop presence in Afghanistan by Christmas.
Tirumurti further called upon the Security Council to “speak unequivocally against violence and terrorist forces”, as he called for a “comprehensive and immediate ceasefire” in Afghanistan.
Remove ‘Artificial' Trade Barriers
The Indian diplomat underlined in his speech that “full transit rights” on trade guaranteed to Afghanistan must operate “without hindrance”.
“… it is important to ensure that the issue of full transit rights to Afghanistan is not used by States to extract a political price from Afghanistan,” remarked Tirumurti.
“It (the international community) should ensure all transit…
