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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Islamic State not yet a threat to India: A.K Doval
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Islamic State not yet a threat to India: A.K Doval

Doval says India wants to resolve all issues with Pakistan through talks

Doval says all the issues can be resolved through negotiations. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Doval says all the issues can be resolved through negotiations. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: The Islamic State and al Qaeda do not yet pose a threat to India, the national security adviser A.K. Doval said on Tuesday, despite attempts by the ultra-radical groups to enlist support from among India’s huge Muslim population.

Flags of the Islamic State have appeared in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state, setting off concern that the insurgent group is drawing support in a region where Indian forces are trying to end a 25-year revolt.

Asserting that there are no problems which cannot be resolved, Doval said India would like to address all its issues with Pakistan through talks while having an “effective deterrence" to deal with terrorism emanating from there.

“We would like to resolve our problems through negotiations, through talks. I don’t think of any problem that cannot be resolved through negotiations," he said, against the backdrop of recent escalation in ceasefire violation by Pakistan.

Doval also emphasised that India wants to have friendly relations with an economically-growing China without compromising on territorial sovereignty.

Turning to China whose troops have been indulging in incursions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he said India considers it as “a very important neighbour" with “we have had good relations for centuries".

An announcement by al Qaeda in September that it had set up a South Asia branch further added to Indian fears that global jihadi groups were turning their attention to the country, as foreign forces in nearby Afghanistan leave.

Doval, a former head of India’s domestic intelligence arm and a specialist in covert operations, said the government was watching the two groups closely.

“I don’t think there are threats of magnitude from either one of them which we are not in a position to cope with," he told a security conference.

India has long faced militant attacks but these are mostly Pakistan-based groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba which was blamed for orchestrating the 2008 assault on Mumbai.

An Indian Mujahideen group has also emerged in recent years with its home-grown fighters carrying out low-level bomb blasts in towns across India.

But India’s 160 million Muslim population has largely stayed away from waging holy wars in foreign battlefields which Indian security officials say underlines the strength of the country’s democracy where people don’t have to turn to guns to fight for their rights.

Doval said the government would be watching closely signs of foreign groups trying to tie with Indian militant organisations.

“But we have to watch it very, very closely in case any of these relationships develop and in case they start targeting India or interests of India, we will have to take a very serious view." Reuters

(PTI also contributed to this story)

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Published: 21 Oct 2014, 04:40 PM IST
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