“Threat of terrorism is growing”, says Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday highlighted the global threat of terrorism is growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, despite the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) best efforts to combat the “gravest threat to humanity”.
Addressing the UNSC’s special meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in the national capital, Jaishankar said, “Terrorism remains the gravest threat to humanity. The UN Security Council in the past two decades has evolved an important architecture built, primarily around the counter-terrorism sanctions regime to combat this menace. This has been very effective in putting the countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a state-funded enterprise.”
“Nevertheless, as a series of reports from the Sanctions Commission’s 1267 monitoring reports highlight, the threat of terrorism continues to grow, particularly in Asia and Africa,” he added.India hosts the two-day United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Conference.The meeting currently taking place in Delhi will be held under the Indian Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Commission (CTC).Jaishnkar told his CTC members that their attendance at the special session in Delhi demonstrates the importance UNSC Member States and a wide range of stakeholders place on this important new facet of terrorism.”That the council is holding this special meeting of its counter-terrorism meetings in India, is also a product of the fact that counterterrorism has become one of the top priorities during our ongoing tenure in the security council,” he added.In recent years, terrorist groups, ideological fellow travellers particularly in open and liberal societies and lone wolf attackers have enhanced their capabilities by gaining access to tech. They use tech, money and ethos of open societies to attack freedom, tolerance, and progress,” he added.
Furthermore, Jaishankar said internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorists and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalisation, and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilising societies.Lastly, Jaishankar announced that India will be making a voluntary contribution of half a million dollars to the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year to augment the efforts of UNOCT in providing capacity-building support to member states in preventing& countering the threat of terrorism.
