Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for institutionalising the counter-terrorism cooperation at the multilateral level. Speaking at the Leaders’ Dialogue on Strategic Responses to Terrorist and Violent Extremist Narratives, on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly session, Prime Minister said in the fight with terrorism there should be a “qualitative upgradation” in the ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing through bilateral and regional frameworks. Mr Modi asserted that India will work towards enhancing ongoing cooperation and capacity building of friendly countries in this area.
Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs A Gitesh Sarma told reporters in New York after the meeting that Prime Minister said that terrorists should not be allowed to get funds and arms, for this objective to be realised. He said terrorist attacks anywhere in the world should be considered as an act of terrorism — “not more or less” or “good or bad”.
The Prime Minister also asserted the need to avoid politicization of mechanisms like UN sanction listings and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and said that these mechanisms need to be enforced.
Sharing India’s experience, Mr Modi told the meeting that democratic values, diversity and inclusive development are the most important weapons against ideologies that promote terrorism, extremism and radicalism.
Secretary West said that Mr Modi called for global solidarity and readiness against terrorism in the same way as the world has shown solidarity against challenges like climate change.
Mr Sarma said the meeting also took stock of the Christchurch Call to Action to eliminate terrorists and violent extremist content online.
India has supported the Christchurch Call to sanitize cyberspace from contents which promote and eulogise terrorism, hate and violence.
The Secretary west said India’s rising stature and strong democratic credentials increasingly resonate in multilateral fora and were very much exemplified by French President Emmanuel Macron’s opening statement where he expressed appreciation for India’s association to the Christchurch call, particularly as a democracy that represents over a billion people.
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