New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee has suggested to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take up the issue of cross-border terrorism and other emerging forms of transnational crime at the regional level platforms especially with five regional bodies namely ASEAN, BIMSTEC, BRICS, European Union (EU) and the Quad with whom India has Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism (JWG-CT).
The Parliamentary Committee chaired by BJP MP PP Choudhary has suggested to the Central government to make maximum use of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), BRICS and QUAD forum to fight against terrorism.
The Committee in its latest report has recommended that concerted efforts should be made to make this organisation more responsive to cross-border terrorism faced by India and other emerging forms of transnational crime. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Rebati Tripura, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, said that India being a member of all these crucial regional-level platforms could play a pivotal role in fighting against cross-border terrorism.
“The present government at the Centre under the leadership of Narendra Modi is playing a major role in ensuring regional security. Our country is facing the issue of cross-border terrorism, especially from Pakistan. And by raising such serious issues related to regional security in South East Asia, India can play a crucial role,” said Tripura.
Referring to the report on countering global terrorism at the regional and international levels, Tripura said that this report tried to highlight the issue of cross-border terrorism, which needs a united fight at the regional level platform. The Parliamentary Committee noted that India leads the security pillar in regional cooperation under BIMSTEC of which Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) is a subsector.
The CTTC has six sub-groups focusing on intelligence sharing, legal and law enforcement issues, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals, human trafficking and illegal migration and cooperation on countering radicalisation and terrorism.
“BIMSTEC regional organisation cooperation in counter-terrorism is an area of high priority in the BIMSTEC framework and cooperation in Counter-Terrorism within the BIMSTEC framework is a work in progress. JWG on CTTC should be strengthened to ensure deeper cooperation amongst the member countries and to activate and re-energise all the sub-groups to function as effective instruments for countering terrorism and transnational crime,” the committee said in its latest report submitted in the Parliament recently.
It said that formal and informal interaction amongst intelligence agencies of India and BIMSTEC countries should also be enhanced so that inputs on terrorist threats and imminent terrorist attacks are shared in real-time and responded to promptly. In addition to security dialogues, the Committee also recommended that the government should take initiatives for organising more capacity-building programmes on CTTC for security personnel and law enforcement officers under the BIMSTEC framework.
The committee is of the view that regional cooperation is vital for countering terrorism and renewed coordinated efforts should be made by SAARC to combat the menace of terrorism for peace, stability and development in the region.
“As a founding member of SAARC, India should play a more proactive role in this regional body and spearhead fresh initiatives for effective functioning and optimum utilisation of the SAARC’s mechanisms for countering terrorism. There is also a need for constant review of security matters at the highest level and the government should actively coordinate with member countries in this regard,” the committee stated.
The committee also urged the government to contribute towards enhancing the ASEAN Regional Forum's (ARF’s) relevance and effectiveness in addressing the increasingly complex challenges amidst the continuously evolving regional landscape. The committee said that the formation of the QUAD working group on counter-terrorism would go a long way in furthering cooperation and coordinated response among the QUAD nations, sharing experiences and best practices in countering terrorism.
“The government should make all-out efforts for the effective functioning of the QUAD Working Group on Counter Terrorism,” the committee said in its report. The QUAD working group on counter-terrorism was announced during the QUAD Foreign Ministers meeting hosted by India last year.
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