Terrorism remained high on the agenda of the meeting of Home ministers of SAARC countries in Kathmandu, but there was no discussion on the threat posed by al-Qaeda and Islamic State. India expressed concern over the planned withdrawal of NATO troops from Afgha-nistan next year and asked the eight-member SAARC group to “carefully assess the impact on the entire region”. “Though terrorism was discussed, but no particular terrorist organisation was named. Al-Qaeda or ISIS might be a cause of concern for India, but not for other countries,” said a senior SAARC official. Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, who attended the conference, said, “We all share a common and vital stake in peace, stability and economic development in Afghanistan. We are concer-ned by new threats of extremism, terrorism and violence being held out to South Asian countries like India, Bangl-adesh and Sri Lanka, which cannot but raise concerns.” Singh asked the SAARC member countries to chalk out strategies to deal with terrorism which involved not only violent activities, but also economic destabilisation. India also suggested setting up a “school of good governance” to promote and share good governance practices in the member countries, while Bangladesh offered to establish a cyber crime monitoring desk in the region. The member nations extensively discussed issues relating to combating terrorism, collective response to fight transnational organised crimes, drug abuse, cyber crimes, corruption, maritime security, piracy and human trafficking. All the member countries, except Pakistan, were represented by their Home minister during the summit. Pakistan, however, did not send its interior minister or a delegation for the meeting and the country was represented by its ambassador to Nepal. The Home ministers also discussed the operationalisation of SAARC Terrorism Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk (SDOMD) located in Colombo as well as matters relating to SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme.
