SAARC meet: India to push for cooperation in tackling crime

A draft convention had been submitted by India at an earlier meeting, but Pakistan and Bangladesh had expressed reservations. A meeting of SAARC Home secretaries on Wednesday, however, had the members in agreement on the need to move forward on a joint mechanism to check cross-border crimes and terrorism, official sources said.

Experts will now be asked to work out the specifics of the convention and this is likely to figure at Thursday’s meeting of Home ministers, which will be chaired by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil. SAARC members will have to work out the funding pattern for such a mechanism and the nature of technology needed to make it effective.

The draft convention calls for cooperation in making persons detained in one country available for investigation if he was wanted in a crime in another country. A similar arrangement has been suggested when it comes to locating and identifying persons involved in terrorism. It also looks at steps to locate or seize the proceeds of crime or funds intended to be used for terrorism.

On another front, member states have agreed to prepare a roadmap for action to check narcotics smuggling and terrorism. There has also been “substantial progress” in strengthening cooperation in police matters, Union Home Ministry sources said after a meeting of SAARC Home and Interior secretaries, chaired by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s meeting reviewed the progress in implementation of the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and its additional Protocol, SAARC Regional Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution. India also discussed the need to strengthen the SAARC Terrorism Offence Monitoring Desk and the SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk in Sri Lanka at the meeting.

India and Pakistan, meanwhile, spoke about the need for more confidence-building measures. These were discussed at a meeting between Shivraj Patil and his Pakistani counterpart Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. Afghanistan Interior Minister Zarar Ahmed Moqbel also called on Patil.