'Conflict Actors' Exploiting COVID-19 Pandemic For Misinformation, Terror Attacks: India Slams Pakistan Indirectly At UNSC

Addressing the UNSC forum on Pandemics and Challenges of Sustaining Peace, India took an indirect jibe at Pakistan stating that some conflict actors are exploiting the current uncertain climate to press their agendas through misinformation and even sponsor opportunistic terrorist attacks.

(Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

India once again hit out hard at Pakistan in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), alleging and exposing its neighboring country for breeding and orchestrating terrorist activities amid challenging times when the world was batting the coronavirus attack on a war footing. Addressing the UNSC forum on Pandemics and Challenges of Sustaining Peace, India took an indirect jibe at Pakistan stating that some conflict actors are exploiting the current uncertain climate to press their agendas through misinformation and even sponsor opportunistic terrorist attacks. "Some conflict actors are also exploiting the current climate of uncertainty to press their agendas, including through the spread of misinformation to foment discord and violence and even sponsor opportunistic terrorist attacks," India issued a strong statement at the UNSC. In its statement at a high-level open debate of the UN Security Council on Pandemics and the Challenges of Sustaining Peace', India said that Covid-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impacted on all the global initiatives that contribute meaningfully to peace building and exacerbated conflict situations. "We are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that has caused global disruption on a scale that has not been experienced before by this generation," it said. "The pandemic is still raging and its implications, though hard to foretell in exact terms, is certain to be profound and multidimensional," it said. India which has been among the largest contributing member state to the UN peacekeeping missions around the world, further harped on the fact that peace builders must mobilize to identify and counter misinformation. Community engagement and effective communication are critical to combat the infodemic' of false information that often drives fear and division, the country said. India reiterated UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' message to the global community which underlined several trends related to the pandemic with implications for conflict prevention, including erosion of trust in public institutions and rise in societal tensions associated with national government's response measures. "In some ways, it has served to exacerbate conflict situations to the extent that we now have to tackle more strife and conflict as well as a growing humanitarian crisis rather than address some of the other important issues relating to peacebuilding.