Rina Mitra (Special Secretary, Internal Security) rued that India’s counter-terror efforts continue to be thwarted due to lack of international collaboration in respect of exchange of information and evidence or of extradition of the accused persons.

India has offered a five-point formula including sharing of timely actionable intelligence and information related to movement of passengers for practical counter-terror cooperation among UN member states to fight global terror.

Addressing UN High Level conference on Heads of Counter Terrorism Agencies last week in New York Rina Mitra (Special Secretary, Internal Security) extended five-point formula --exchange of timely and actionable intelligence; prevention of misuse of modern communication through collaboration with private sector; building capacities for improved border controls; sharing of info related to movement of passengers and designation of Counter-Terror focal points for establishing a possible global to fight global terror.

In her address Mitra without naming any country rued that India's counter-terror efforts continue to be thwarted due to lack of international collaboration in respect of exchange of information and evidence or of extradition of the accused persons who are hiding outside India's territory.

“No country can be considered safe from terrorist acts. Today, terrorist entities have links and operate across borders building networks; raising funds in various ways including internationally; propagating their ideologies of hate; recruiting from foreign lands; sourcing arms and weapons from distant providers and smugglers; exploit modern communication technologies that dissolve distances. They are able to select targets of their choosing in countries of their choosing; cross borders often with help from state agencies; and inflict terror on innocent peoples… India has had to face the scourge of terrorism, mostly originating outside our borders, increasingly over the last two decades. Our counter terrorism agencies have developed considerable expertise in preventing such attacks and bringing the perpetrators of such terror attacks to justice,” she pointed out referring to India’s long-standing concerns over cross-border terror.

She noted while international counter-terror partnerships have made progress, a more comprehensive approach, as embodied in the proposed Convention on Countering International Terrorism (CCIT) that is required in “tackling the contemporary form of terrorism that is evolving all the time continues to elude us”. CCIT was proposed by India two decades back and recently SCO Summit backed India's proposal.

“At the United Nations, over the last two decades, some practical steps to counter terrorism have been mandated by the UN Security Council through its establishment of specific Sanctions Committees. These have had limited success. Such efforts have also run into political difficulties due to differing strategic considerations of major powers.”