'Terrorists Are Terrorists, Musn't Glorify Them': Jaishankar's 8-point Action Plan Against Terrorism

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Thursday, reiterated an eight-point action plan to eliminate terrorism in a briefing with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist attacks, and called on the council to build on the principles.

The eight-point action plan to fight terror, as given by Jaishankar:

1. Summon the political will: don’t justify terrorism, don’t glorify terrorists,

2. No double standards. Terrorists are terrorists; distinctions are made only at our own peril,

3. Don’t place blocks and holds on listing requests without any reason,

4. Discourage exclusivist thinking and be on guard against new terminologies and false priorities,

5. Enlist and delist objectively, not on political or religious considerations,

6. Recognize the linkage to organized crime,

7. Support and strengthen the FATF, and

8. Provide greater funding to UN Office of Counter Terrorism.

Jaishankar had first proposed the action plan in a meeting with the council in January 2021.

He said that India has been at the forefront of global counter terrorism efforts, has taken part in all major global initiatives against international terrorism and is party to all United Nations’ sectoral conventions relating to terrorism.

“We reiterate our full support for counter terrorism cooperation under the auspices of the UN,” said Jaishankar.

He also asked the UNSC to end the stalemate preventing the adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, which India has championed for so long.

Dr Davood Moradian, Director General of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, also joined the meeting. Moradian said it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call the situation in Afghanistan a “catastrophe.”

The meeting comes at the wake of Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Even as Afghans and foreign nationals scramble to leave the country fearing Taliban’s harsh rules, the terror outfit has made it clear that the regime will follow the conservative Islamic Sharia law.

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