Terrorism like climate change and pandemics impacts all: MoS Lekhi at CICA summit in Astana

Terrorism like climate change and pandemics impacts everyone and for many decades, India has been affected particularly by the menace of cross-border terrorism sustained through financial, political and moral support of some states, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi said on Thursday.

Addressing the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana, Kazakhstan, ahead of a special UNSC counter-terrorism committee meeting in Mumbai and New Delhi on October 28 to 29, Lekhi said it will focus on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.

She said that India is currently the chair of the UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2022 and it has also assumed the role of CICA Coordinator on Counterterrorism and have proposed to conduct a workshop.

In addition to this, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs will also hold a conference in the month of November ‘No Money for Terror’, she said.

"Terrorism remains the biggest challenge and threat to our peace and continues to be the biggest violator of human rights in all its form. Terrorism like climate change and pandemics impacts us all," she said at the CICA meeting, also attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

She said that India follows a zero-tolerance approach towards terror and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross border terrorism.

"For many decades, India has been affected particularly by the menace of cross-border terrorism sustained through financial, political and moral support of some states," she said.

At the UN Security Council where India would be completing its tenure as a non-permanent member this year, counterterrorism has been one of its focus areas, she said.

"I hope that CICA members will be able to enhance our cooperation with the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy (UNGCTS), which we will adopt later today," she said.

It is not very frequent that the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee meets outside of New York but the meeting in India will be the seventh time that this is happening.

The meeting of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in Mumbai will be a tribute and statement to the horrific 26/11 terror attacks and members of the powerful United Nations (UN) organ will place a wreath in memory of the victims of the attack, Committee Chair Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj had said earlier.

Lekhi said that the last few decades have seen the rise of Asia. "We are faced with a diverse set of challenges to peace and security in Asia- of economic growth, food and energy security, connectivity deficits, low intra-regional trade and particularly, of the environment. Connectivity initiatives should be based on the principles of transparency, broad participation, local priorities, financial sustainability and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations," she said.

"As we go ahead, it is important to remember that our future remains closely intertwined. In this context, we view CICA as an important platform to promote multilateralism in diverse and multi-polar Asia," she said.

Image: Twitter/@M_Lekhi