UN must show unrelenting zero tolerance for terrorism: India

United Nations: India has said the fight against terrorism has to be “unrelenting” and the world community cannot afford selective approaches in dealing with terror groups and in dismantling their infrastructure, as it demanded that the UN must show zero tolerance for the menace. [caption id=“attachment_1812993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India said UN must show unrelenting zero tolerance for terrorism. Reuters[/caption] India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asoke Mukerji said at a Security Council open debate on ‘International Cooperation on Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism’ here yesterday that the infrastructure of terrorism, including physical structures as well as financial and ideological wellsprings does not exist in a vacuum. He said that “it is an inescapable conclusion” that member states have an obligation to act swiftly to prevent their sovereign territory from being used by terrorists. “No member state can hope to be immune to the threat of such terrorism, and the infrastructure of terrorism therefore needs to be erased urgently if we are to avoid a doomsday scenario,” he said. He asserted that there can be no justification for terrorism, and that the UN must demonstrate zero tolerance for terrorism if the menace has to be successfully countered. “We would reiterate that the fight against terrorism has to be unrelenting and fought across all fronts. The immediate lesson all of us must draw… is that the international community cannot afford selective approaches in dealing with terrorist groups or in dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism. There can never be any justification of terrorism,” he said. He said the phenomenon of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters is not a recent one adding that the UNSC needs to act robustly using the instruments of law, information available to it to counter terrorism and maintain international peace and security. He urged the Council to add its collective voice to the early conclusion of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, so that member states are legally to either prosecute or extradite terrorists. With thousands of foreign fighters traveling to conflict hit countries, and groups such as the ISIS garnering hefty revenues from new illegal sources, the UNSC urged states to target the root causes of terrorism as they redoubled efforts to eradicate that scourge in all its forms and manifestations. The Council reiterated its grave concern about ISIS, Al-Nusra Front and other terrorist entities associated with Al-Qaeda, and the negative impact of their presence on the stability of Iraq, Syria and that region. It expressed concern that more than 15,000 foreign terrorist fighters from more than 80 countries had travelled to join such groups in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Yemen, as well as countries in the Maghreb and Sahel regions. Recalling the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Mukerji said increasingly sophisticated use of technology and communications is being undertaken to commit ever more barbaric acts of terror. He said the Mumbai attacks were carried out by foreign terrorists in the “full glare of the international media”. “We believe that if we are serious about countering this challenge in an effective manner, we must agree on necessary adjustments to be made in the way the global internet infrastructure is currently managed in order to counter the exploitation of the internet by terrorists,” he said. India also expressed concern over the threat posed by terrorists to UN peacekeepers, specifically in the Golan Heights and in Mali, saying that unless effectively deterred, such threats will only increase in number and scope. “We call on the Security Council to take urgent and visible steps to use its authority to investigate, prosecute and penalize the perpetrators of such terrorist acts. A clear obligation for all member states to act against foreign terrorist fighters who attack UN peacekeepers should become an integral part of the peacekeeping mandates approved by the Council,” he said. PTI