Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 23 : Kobbi Shoshani, Consul General of Israel to Midwest India, Mumbai on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack that occurred in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
Speaking to ANI, Shoshani appreciated the steps taken by India in curbing terrorism and the steps taken by the government in the aftermath of the attack.
"First of all, I would like to send our condolences on behalf of the state of Israel, to the families and to the victims. It doesn't matter if they are from India and all over the world. I was shocked by the photos. I saw the photo of this woman sitting in front of her husband. It shattered my heart and I'd like to send my condolences as well. You know fighting against terrorism is not an easy task," he said.
Shoshani said that Israel, however, trusts the Indian government and will continue to explore all tourist spots in India.
"We are Israelis. We have to say that we are not worried. We will come here. That's a part of our life. We are not giving any chance to terrorism to win and we will come here and we are here. And we love India and I think that Israelis love India and I think that it won't affect so much. We believe in the Indian authority and the Indian government to do the utmost to fight against terrorism and secure not only of course your own people also tourists, and I think we are doing it," he said.
Shoshani added that fighting terrorism involves fighting money laundering and determinants of the sources from where terrorists get their ammunition.
"Terrorism probably will not be stopped. And I think that we have to fight their money laundering. We have to fight against their sources, their transportation of goods and shipments of ammunition. And we have to fight with the determinants about all terrorists wherever they are. That's where the cooperation between all the states is needed because terrorists would like to bring fear to the normal life of the citizens in India, in the Middle East, in Europe. That is their system," he said.
He toldthat the terrorists keep abreast of the situations in other countries. Just as these terrorists struck India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was out of India on an official visit to Saudi Arabia just so that they could embarrass the country.
"The terrorists- we saw it not only in India, we saw it also in the Middle East- they are reading newspaper very much and they understand what's going on outside and they would like to embarrass and that's part of their system. It's a common practise of terrorists all over the world and I think that it's a very severe incident," he said.
Shoshani added that India's fight against terrorism has spanned several years and drawing parallels from Israel, he said that all countries have to collaborate to fight terrorism, that will help them be reduced to a minimum.
"It's good that India and India is fighting against terrorism for many, many years in the northern parts and not only in the northern parts. We are here in Mumbai and we know that. Also all over the state we need to fight against terrorism like we do in Israel, like we do all over the world with cooperation and collaboration, and I think that's going to break them. There is no 100% success, but definitely it's going to reduce it to a minimum," he said.
Shoshani said that after such a terror attack, the tourists would be scared to visit the place.
"I assume that after such terror attack, it's very, very normal, I think that they're worried to come. They don't know what's going on. People don't know where, what is the distance from Kashmir to Dharamsala. Then I think that it's a quite challenging," he said.
Shoshani said that the war against terrorism is not an easy one and all agencies have to collaborate to win against it.
"Definitely I think that the collaboration between all the agencies fighting against terrorism is essential to fight in this bloody war. It's not an easy war. The collaboration internationally between terrorists is known and it's not a big secret. Everybody knows," he said.
"We need good intelligence for [tackling terrorism], and good intelligence come from collaboration. We learned from many, many years, from the 70s, even from the end of the 60s that terror organisations collaborate between themselves. They need collaboration and this is what they are doing. That's the reason that we need international collaboration," he added.
The attack, which unfolded on Tuesday in the picturesque Pahalgam area of Anantnag district, turned a place once known for its tranquillity into a site of mourning. The attack was one of the biggest terror attacks in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
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