The second meeting of the High Level Group of Eminent Experts of SAARC nations in the Indian capital was an opportunity to discuss about and strengthen the regional anti-terrorism Mechanism. Pakistan was represented at the meeting a junior officer of its Indian diplomatic mission.
The group was set up after the 31st meeting of SAARC foreign ministers in Colombo (Feb 2009). Meeting under the aegis of SAARC Council of Ministers, the FMs acknowledged that terrorism remains the single biggest threat to peace, stability and progress in the region and beyond. And adopted the Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism.
New Delhi also hosted the first meeting of the group in 2012 (February 9-10). That meeting had stressed upon the need for immediate operationalisation of the SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk and SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk. This has not happened as yet, a fact stressed by Dineshwar Sharma, director of India’s Intelligence Bureau, when he interacted with the delegations, who are mostly his counterparts.
“The terrorist organisations use easily accessible technology to attack both soft and hard targets. Self-radicalisation over internet and social media, and spread of influence of Islamic State all over, including in our country, has added new dimensions to the threat,” said Sharma, and appealed to the SAARC countries to adopt strong methodologies to counter all cyber threats from the Islamic State militants.
Indian IB has identified countering financing of terrorism as one of the most important tools to fight the terror menace.
“Cyberspace has become an important area for radicalisation and spread of jihadi materials. Besides, the problem of fake currency feeds into supporting terrorism and can create economic destabilisation in our region,” Sharma stated.
Terrorism has emerged as a big challenge for the entire world and no country today is in a position to tackle this problem on its own. “Close cooperation and sharing of real-time intelligence are, therefore, imperative for all of us to secure our countries and our peoples.” Sharma called upon the eight member States to ratify and enable various Conventions enacted by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) grouping, including the Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and Additional Protocols and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.