Gurgaon: India today strongly pitched for increased effectiveness of collective action to counter terrorism with zero tolerance, asserting that it was one of the “foremost concerns” as 51 countries exchanged views on strategies to meet non-traditional security challenges such as drug trafficking and money laundering at the ASEM forum.
“These issues were seen as having serious repercussions for regional and global security, particularly because of their tendency to come together to compound the challenge from terrorism. They underlined the need for a comprehensive global approach to counter terrorism,” said a statement by the Chair of Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers (ASEM) meeting in consultation with member-states, 34 of which were represented by their foreign ministers.
The participants during the two-day meet also underscored the need to exchange information on activities related cyber crime, where cyber space is used by terrorists for financing, recruitment, communication and radicalisation.
They emphasised the need for ensuring cyber security, while underlining that the security of the Internet should not be achieved at the expense of freedom of expression.
Earlier speaking at the closed-door retreat session, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “All terror is unacceptable and must be tackled comprehensively.”
The minister also said that India supports the efforts made by the Afghan government to establish a peaceful dialogue with “all opposition groups but this process must be an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned reconciliation process, within the framework of the Afghan Constitution and the internationally accepted red lines.”
“The reconciliation process should not in any way, undermine the political, social, and economic progress witnessed in Afghanistan over the past decade,” Khurshid warned.
According to well informed sources, Khurshid emphasised that international terrorism continues to grow in sophistication and reach, “confronting many of our countries as a transnational menace”.
“Over the last few years, we have seen greater understanding amongst members of the international community that segmented approaches will not work. “We must increase the effectiveness of collective action to counter terrorism with zero tolerance. We need concerted and cohesive global action against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Khurshid told the forum's meeting on regional and international issues.
