United Nations: As a victim of terrorism, most recently in Pahalgam, India has pledged to promote the UN’s counter-terrorism strategy for a global fight against the scourge.
“We add our voice in stressing the importance of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) as a central instrument for multilateral cooperation,” Raghoo Puri, a first secretary at India’s UN Mission, said Wednesday.
Participating in the Annual Ambassadorial Level Briefing by the Office of Counter-Terrorism, he said, “Terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security. It knows no borders, nationality, or race, and is a challenge that the international community must combat collectively.”
The GCST was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly in 2006 as a joint approach to countering terrorism, and has been reaffirmed by several resolutions of the Assembly.
In its 20th year, it is up for review in July.
“India will remain steadfast and engaged in the consultations for the 9th review of the GCTS” and gives an assurance of its full cooperation “during negotiations of this very important UN process”, Puri said.
New Delhi will draw on its experience “as a country which itself has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the past three decades”, he said.
“India is acutely aware of the socio-economic and human cost of terrorism, especially for its victims,” he said.
“Just last year, my country was brutally attacked by The Resistance Front, a proxy of LeT (the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba), a UN-listed terror organisation in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that led to the loss of lives of 26 innocent tourists,” he said.
He declared, “We must act together against ISIS (Islamic State terror group) and Al Qaeda and their proxies.”
He noted that during India’s last tenure on the Security Council, as the Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2022, “India has striven to bring these principles into the counter-terrorism architecture of the UN and into the debate on terrorism”.
“With foresight, India promoted the Delhi Declaration, which was adopted unanimously by the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee”, Puri pointed out.
The declaration is the proactive framework to combat terrorist use of emerging technologies like drones, social media, and online fundraising.
The acting under-secretary-general for counter-terrorism, Alexandre Zouev, warned that terrorists “continued to adapt their operations in response to counter-terrorism efforts, resulting in a threat picture that is more complex and greater in scope”.
The world faces great danger as terrorists adopt technological advances like drones, artificial intelligence, financial technologies, and even commercial satellite access, he said.
“Their versatile financing efforts and their exploitation of online spaces are even more complex to monitor and address,” Zouev added.
