US report endorses Pak's efforts to curb Anti-India terror groups in 2020
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Washington: A United States-based report on terrorism vouched that Pakistan had initiated procedures to curb anti-India terrorists in 2020 but admitted that groups targeting Afghanistan and India are still working in the country, The Indian Express reported.
The '2020 Country Reports on Terrorism' by the US Department of State said Pakistan convicted Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and four of his colleagues for multiple terrorism financing cases.
It appreciated Pakistan for contributing to peace in Afghanistan by reducing Taliban attacks on US forces and Pakistan's progress regarding meeting Financial Action Task Force compliance.
But the report also said that terrorist groups such as the Haqqani Network, LeT and its affiliated organisations and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) continues operating on Pakistan soil.
JeM's Masood Azhar, the UN-designated terrorist and Sajid Mir, the 'project manager' cum accused of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, are still living freely in the country as Islamabad has not taken any actions against them. It also said that some Madrasas in Pakistan are still teaching violence and extremist doctrine.
The terrorism report has its say on India too. While acknowledging militant activities in Jammu & Kashmir, it said that the Union government of India has no solid policy for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The state administrations carry out CVE strategies in the country and thus are not uniform.
Mostly local police departments carry out CVE proceedings but have limited interactions with community organisations and civilians. The report said that the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh have their own CVE strategies.
The report names LeT, JeM, Hizbul Mujahideen, ISIS, al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen as the main terrorist groups operating in India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has examined 34 cases regarding ISIS and arrested 160 people in September.
Ten arrestees were Al Qaeda activists from Kerala and West Bengal. Terrorist recruitment and radicalisation to violence through the internet, mainly from southern states, while religious tensions surging are major concerns for officials, the report says.
