India asks intl community to come together to fight terrorism

Addressing the day-long Council debate on threat to international peace and security by terrorism, Sen also stressed on the need to strengthen democratic and secular forces across the world to stem the scourge.

One of the reasons the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) is held up is that the member States have not agreed on the definition of terrorism. But Sen said the world does not need a philosophical definition of terrorism.

“Current proposals address effectively the question of offences governed by International Humanitarian Law and those governed by the Convention,” he said, stressing that what is now needed is the political will to conclude the Convention.

Stating that political and socio economic programme of fundamentalists is always ‘deeply reactionary and exploitative’, he told the Council that history teaches that to prevent fundamentalist forces from occupying space for dissent, democratic and secular forces must be strengthened and not weakened.

India’s advocacy of international cooperation to fight terrorism predates the consideration of the terrorism in the United Nations, Sen emphasised, adding, the country remains victim of international terrorism which has killed more than 60,000 people over the last 25 years.

“India therefore has an overriding interest in greater and more meaningful international cooperation to counter terrorism,” he pointed out, saying it also underscores the rationale behind its conviction that no political cause, no argument, no belief can or should be used to justify acts of terrorism.

In this context, he expressed India’s willingness to provide all assistance in the larger effort to counter the threat, saying as an ‘unfortunate but inevitable’ result of the tragic history of dealing with terrorism, the country has accumulated the expertise and experience in fighting the scourge.

“Our own efforts utilize all available tools within the arsenal of a democratic nation, governed by the rule of law. They run the gamut of efforts from surveillance methods governed by law, monitoring of financial flows and effective legislation regarding dual use items, to old fashioned police investigation work.”

“Yet we recognise that no matter how comprehensive the effort, there is always the chance of one catastrophic failure. It is in recognition of this that we seek a comprehensive international effort to counter terrorism,” Sen said.

India, he said, has argued for over a decade, and continues to believe that agreement on a CCIT should have been a first step in any consolidated counter-terrorism efforts within the United Nations.

Stating that such a Convention would provide the legal framework for an effective counter-terrorism strategy, he asserted, “We remain convinced that a CCIT must be agreed upon if we are to have a strong interlocking network of member states, international organizations and specialized agencies functioning together in unison to counter terrorism.”

Over and above India’s commitment to the early conclusion of a Comprehensive Convention, which it initiated in the 51st session of UN General Assembly,” we see merit in a pragmatic approach to the various counter-terrorism mechanisms and elements that already exist,” he said.

He also stressed the need for technical assistance to the countries who seek such help to fight terrorism in the interest of a larger struggle and offered India assistance, bilaterally or multilaterally, especially in the instance of States which are themselves not directly threatened by terrorism but whose participation is vital to success of larger international effort.

He also urged the United Nations to make greater effort to follow up on information obtained from member States as part of the effort against terrorism.

“Pooling our collective knowledge and expertise is desirable, but can only succeed when there is adequate evidence that it is both welcome and necessary,” he added.

The meeting was presided over by current Council President Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia and Sen ended his speech with a message in Russian.

“Mr President, as countries that have long experience in dealing with the threat of terrorism, international cooperation remains essential.”