India is to host a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (UNSC) at Mumbai’s iconic Taj Hotel, which holds a special significance as one of the sites of the 2008 terror attack. The theme discussion of the meeting will be countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes. The panel will also discuss terror financing through crypto-currency and the use of drones in new-age terrorism. This will be the first such meeting of the UNSC-CTC in India since its establishment in 2001. The Permanent Representative of India, Ruchira Kamboj to the UN serves as the Chair of the CTC for 2022.
Why India?
Foreign Ministry Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma announced this and said that the event will be hosted in Mumbai and Delhi on October 28 and 29, 2022, respectively. According to him the larger purpose of this unprecedented meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in Mumbai will be a representation of the 2008 terror attack on what would be the identity of India in financial and commercial space. Mumbai is a city which reflects the best of India in terms of its economic development. UNSC ambassadors from all countries will attend a memorial for victims of the 26/11 terror attacks in the city by a 10-member team from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that unleashed a three-day wave of carnage in India’s financial hub.
Terrorism and its Geopolitical Connotation for South Asia
The US troops left Afghanistan in a chaotic situation, an unfinished war situation that has left hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians at the mercy of a conservative, militant Taliban government. There are curbs of freedom of women and minorities along with frequent terror strikes.
For South Asia, particularly India, the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the collapse of the Afghan military, and the ascendance of the Taliban pose a massive counter-terrorism threat. Groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State will likely step up their activities from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Anti-India terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed could use the country as a base to launch attacks in Kashmir or other parts of India, as they did in the 1990s. Moreover, Pakistan’s deep decades-old proximity with the Taliban has further threatened India’s domestic and regional security directly since the withdrawal of US troops, making this tenure at the CTC particularly critical.
Key Points
The session will be attended by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly, Gabon foreign minister Michael Moussa Adamo, Ghana foreign minister Shirley Ayorkar Botchwey, UAE minister of state for international cooperation Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Albania’s deputy foreign minister Megi Fino and a delegation from the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) led by undersecretary general Vladimir Voronkov. All 15 current members of the UN Security Council and five incoming members of the body will join a solemn ceremony at Hotel Taj Palace, during which a wreath will be laid at the 26/11 memorial site and participants will observe a minute’s silence for the 166 victims of the terror attacks.
Outcomes
Senior Legal Officer, Svetlana Martynova, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, was of the opinion that cash and hawala are “predominant methods of terror financing.” Hence, proper regulation and very clear global standards from FATF & the resolutions of UNSC are required to fight it. Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative to the UN sated that there will be a Delhi declaration along with the adoption of non-binding guiding principles. These principles will encourage member states to work collaboratively & collectively to counter the menace of terrorism. Apart from that, a Counter-Terrorism Committee will be formed to monitor potential threats. Lastly, EAM, Jaishankar in his speech condemned cross-border drone attacks and said that terrorism remains one of the gravest threat to humanity which requires a collective effort to fight.
