New Delhi: India today convinced Bahrain for the first time to publicly challenge Pakistan's description of militants in Kashmir as "freedom fighters" in a rare diplomatic gain from a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that has traditionally backed Islamabad.
The statement issued by Bahrain's interior ministry, following a meeting between its minister and Indian home minister Rajnath Singh in Manama, comes at a time India is trying to wean OIC members away from decades of support for Pakistan over Kashmir.
OIC members have in the past refused to accept in public India's argument that Pakistan sends across terrorists under the garb of backing Kashmir's right to self-determination. They only agreed to condemn "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations".
But India timed its bid to try and win public support from the OIC members with growing worries in West Asia over the unchecked expansion of terror groups.
The statement issued by Bahrain said they agreed that a terrorist in one country "cannot be glorified as a freedom fighter" by another. "The two sides called upon all states to
reject the use of terrorism against other countries, to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of another state and to fight terrorist infrastructure wherever it exists."
The public declaration came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, following the army's September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control.
The LoC has witnessed increased cross-border firing between the neighbors over the past month. Today, Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned Indian deputy high commissioner J.P. Singh to protest what Islamabad called "unprovoked ceasefire violations" by India on the night of October 23-24.
The bitterness between the neighbors was also visible when the Prime Minister and the foreign office both avoided public messages of condolence following the killing of 60 cadets by terrorists in Quetta this morning.
Indian officials have been saying over the past few months that their arguments against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism were finding increasing resonance with countries in the OIC.
But the officials had also voiced frustration at the unwillingness of friends within the OIC to publicly criticize Pakistan. "We would like that what they tell us privately, they should also say publicly and take a stand," Amar Sinha, secretary (economic relations) in the foreign ministry, had said in August.
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