New Delhi: India on Monday called upon Asian countries to push for a decisive global action plan to dismantle terror infrastructure wherever it exists and choke its financing, terming the menace the single biggest threat to peace and security.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an obvious reference to Pakistan, said India has been a victim of “proxy war” for several decades and time has come now for the United Nations to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) to deal with terror effectively.
Parrikar said terrorism remained the “most pervasive and serious challenge” to international peace and security and a united global approach was crucial to deal with it.
The Defence Minister was speaking at a conference on combating terrorism at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, a leading think-tank.
“Terrorism is undoubtedly the single biggest threat to international peace and security. While the threat is transnational, response does not appear to be coordinated even though there is a broad consensus on what constitutes an act of terror,” he said.
Parrikar said India will continue to push for shutting down terror camps, imposing ban on all terror groups, prosecuting all terrorists under special law and making cross-border terror an extraditable offence under the CCIT.
The Defence Minister said Asia has been victim of some of the most dreaded terrorist networks and a strong regional push from the continent will exert more pressure on rest of the world to adapt the CCIT which India had proposed 20 years back.
“Twenty years later we continue to push and put our weight on this aspect, to shut down terror camps, to ban all terror groups, prosecute all terrorist under special laws and make cross border terror an extraditable offense worldwide,” he said.
Parrikar said there must be action against entities which fund terror groups, propagate their ideologies and provide safe havens, particularly emphasising on the need to combat “complicated webs of terror financing”.
Talking about issues relating to global security, he also mentioned about challenges like global uncertainty, revival of populist movements, heightened nationalism and backlash against globalisation.
“Terrorism remains the most pervasive and serious challenge to international security.
Developing a serious and cognitive global response to it is very important but seemingly very difficult to achieve,” he said.
He said the arch of terrorism was expanding in Asia and there was a need for a regional approach to defeat terror.
Quoting a global report, he said a record number of countries have been experiencing a high level of terrorism which surged by six per cent in 2016 over the preceding year.
Four groups–ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban and Al-Qaeda–were responsible for 74 per cent of all forms of terrorism, he added.
Referring to a UN report, he said ISIS affiliated groups carried out attacks in 29 countries in 2016 which is almost double in comparison to 2014.
He said some 60 million people have been impacted by conflict and violence. Parrikar said it is also important to counter the misuse of the Internet through social media by terrorist entities. (PTI)
