‘Genuine’ global cooperation needed to combat terror: India

India has emphasised on the need for “genuine and effective” global cooperation to achieve zero tolerance towards terrorism. “The scale of the challenge facing all our countries is daunting. No state is immune to this threat as continuing terrorist attacks across the world, many of them with links beyond the borders of the affected state, continue to demonstrate”, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said on May 9 in New York. He was addressing a meeting of the Advisory Board of the UN Counter Terrorism Centre (UNCCT). Mr Akbaruddin said that no single country, however rich or powerful would be able to defeat terror acting alone. He mentioned that India has been a victim of terror for decades, and said that there is a critical need for a collective international effort to counter terrorism. Appreciating the UN for its role, Mr Akbaruddin said that the organisation is providing a “useful avenue” for such international cooperation to fight terrorism, but also emphasised that the international body “requires to do more”. “We look forward to the UNCCT playing a useful part in contributing to the collective quest of ‘zero tolerance for terrorism’”, he said. “The growth of the phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) poses increasing threats and challenges and needs to be effectively countered. Credible assessments refer to FTFs from more than 100 countries. The work of the UNCCT on this issue needs to take into account this widespread malaise and requires to be expanded to cover all regions that are affected by this menace”, added Mr Akbaruddin. India reiterated on strengthening the legal capacities of member states to counter terrorism and elaborated that it is “very important” in the fight to ensure the rule of law. “The UNCCT working in unison with other UN agencies can be of assistance in strengthening the capacity of national legal systems to effectively prosecute and punish acts of terrorism”, Mr Akbaruddin said.