India calls for common mechanisms to combat terrorism

[Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 06.04 GMT]  

Indian Defence Minister A K Antony addressing the 10th Asian Security Conference held in New Delhi on February 5 said that nations must devise ways and means to cooperate to effectively counter terrorism.

“The world today realises that no nation can consider itself to be immune from terrorism. The lessons learnt elsewhere can prove to be useful in devising our policies. Similarly, other nations too can benefit from our experiences. Nations must devise ways and means to cooperate to effectively counter terrorism,” he said.

“The emergence of non-state players is another grave challenge confronting all nations. These non-state players do not recognise any territorial boundaries. They utilise latest global communication and transport networks and rely on garnering international support. Their common objective is to disturb existing state apparatus, destabilise neighbouring states and create new states based on ethno-cultural identity. Most of these non-state players are not fighting for a national identity, or territory and have abstract notions of carving out a separate and unique identity of their own based on ethnicity, religious and tribal basis,” he added.

He told the Conference that out of the 343 non-state armed groups operating in the world, 187 groups operate in Asian region and called for a three-pronged strategy to counter it.
  
He said:
  
  “The first one is to maintain an active dialogue process, not only among governments, but also defence establishments to build strong channels of communication and dispel mistrust.
  
  “Secondly, we must develop mechanisms to share intelligence about terror groups, criminal elements, drug cartels and other transnational networks that foment violence and subvert states.

  ”Thirdly, we must attempt to devise common solutions to common challenges that threaten our collective security. We need to develop multilateral frameworks to promote dialogue and prepare strategies for cooperative action.’