Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise as Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of India and as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to condemn the appalling terrorist attack that occurred in India on Valentine's Day by the Pakistani Islamist terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, an organisation I am pleased to say is listed as a terrorist organisation in this country and in many of our Five Eyes partners. Jaish-e-Mohammed has previously indiscriminately killed Indian citizens and advocated against Western interests. It's aligned with al-Qaeda, with Lashkar-e-Taiba and with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

On Valentine's Day, a vehicle travelling from Jammu to Srinagar in the Pulwama district, loaded with 350 kilos of explosives, slammed into a convoy of Central Reserve Police. Forty-four Indian reserve police were killed as a result of the attack. The Indian community around the world is mourning, and we join in grief with the 700,000 people of Indian origin who live in this country as well as Indian people around the world in condemning this attack. The security of a nation and the defence of its people is the first task of any government. To attack paramilitary police in this way is to attack India and its sovereignty as well as to attack each person who was killed and their families and colleagues.

Australia has always stood with India and marched with India since the early days of the First World War. Australia will continue to march with India in the war on global Islamic terror, which will unfortunately be a major feature of global security challenges for the next century.