May 2011

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India asks world to target terror sanctuaries

Underlining its commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, India on June 6 asked the international community to act against the continued existence of “safe sanctuaries” for terrorists outside its borders and warned against adopting a “selective approach” to tackle this menace.

“Past experience has shown, however, that no country, however distant, can stay immune from the challenge posed by terrorist groups and the safe havens that they enjoy,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told his counterparts from 46 countries at the 10th foreign ministers’ meeting of the Asia-Europe (ASEM) forum in the Hungarian town Gödödllo.

Terrorism is a truly trans-national menace. Recruiting, planning, financing and training for terror operations can all be done outside the borders of the country which is attacked. Sanctuaries for terror infrastructure outside of our national borders are a continuing concern. Political expediency, short-term gains, geo-political considerations, faulty analyses, etc. blur clarity on how to address the menace of international terrorism. All terror is unacceptable and has to be tackled comprehensively. A selective approach will not work. Over the past couple of years, we have seen greater understanding amongst the members of the international community that segmented approaches to the problem of terrorism have not worked; nor has the approach of differentiating between lesser and greater evils in this context.

There has to be an international collaboration in the sharing of information, countering the financing of terrorism, building capacity in our anti-terror mechanisms, exchange of best practices and strengthening our mutual legal assistance and extradition regimes. We piloted the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the UN because we were convinced that existing sectoral conventions left wide gaps in the global anti-terror legal framework. We urge early adoption of this overdue Convention. India is party to all the existing international Conventions on Terrorism. In 2010, we became members of the Financial Action Task Force, the world’s premier inter-governmental organisation to monitor standards in anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism. We co-chair the Asia Pacific Group, a FATF styled regional body, for the period 2010-2012 and will be hosting its plenary in Kochi in July 2011. We are fully committed to implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy of 2006. We are happy to have assumed chairmanship of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (also known as the 1373 Committee) in January 2011.

India has deep concerns about the nexus between fundamentalism, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The maritime security environment in the Indian Ocean region continues to be fragile. Non-state threats to maritime security are also on the rise from piracy, smuggling, international terrorism, transnational crimes, drug-trafficking, maritime security and proliferation of sensitive items.

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India asks diaspora to become partners in progress

Calling the Indian diaspora its bridge of friendship to the world, India has invited the Indo-Canadian community to become a part of its success story.

The two-day event that started in Toronto on June 9 was aptly given the theme of ‘Building Bridges: Positioning Strategies for the Indian Diaspora’.

Speaking at the opening of the fifth regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Preneet Kaur, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, said the Indian diaspora had become “an important partner for India’s prosperity’’ by sending remittances back home, making investments, transferring technical know-how, and projecting India’s soft power by popularising its culture, films and dance.

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