Exactly a year and a half ago, India and France decided to extend their co-operation on the fight against terror by laying down a clear cut objective. Agreeing to cooperate more closely than before, but with the objective of ending terror financing, India and France brainstormed on a wide array of ideas to put together a systematic plan to alleviate terrorism.
A key initiative, therefore, that emerged from a close-knit meet held on the sensitive subject matter, was finding solutions to deny safe havens for the terrorists. Resultantly, there was a lot more to the Feb, 2020-bound 14th Meeting on Joint Working Group On Counter-Terrorism than just establishing a channel of ceaseless diplomatic communication on both nation’s ends.
Likewise, there was much emphasis given to the situation that has so often affected both countries than simply ‘condemning’ the heinous act perpetrated against mankind. Needless to say, that’s terrorism in the wake of its entirety.
And now, just hours ago, emphatic it is to note that both countries met once again in its resolve to follow up on the meet that formed headlines everywhere last year.
However, this time around, the illustrious Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism meet, held in Paris, went a step further. It focused on the possibility of putting to effect proscription, i.e., banning terrorism altogether on either country’s end as a vital means to counter the surge of terror-related activities.
A key development, basis this recent meet between India and France, has been toward the sphere of increasing co-operation between the security agencies on either ends. This could, inadvertently, also mean an increased interaction and dialogue on the part of intelligence agencies, namely the Research and Analysis Wing as also the ARC and NIA of India with the DGSA of France.
Among the clear messages that germinated from this high-level dialogue between India and France was a directive issued to countries like Pakistan, that have, for the longest time, been harbouring terrorists and when found guilty and rebuked, then gone a step further toward working murkily to provide terrorists shelters in other nations tied to their ideology of providing a safe haven to miscreants (of the most appalling nature and creed).
The above told, the following information is what appeared on mainstream news platforms in India basis India and France’s recent meet on tackling the great nadir of our times, one that simply needs to be uprooted from its very origins:
India and its close strategic partner France have decided to focus on proscription of terrorists and entities as a tool to counter terror and also underlined the need to ensure that Afghan territory does not become a source of radicalisation and terrorism, regionally or globally.
They exchanged views on threats posed by UN sanctioned terrorist entities and individuals and emphasised the need for taking concerted action against all terrorist networks including al-Qaida and ISIS/Daesh, as well as Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul Mujahideen etc, including making sure that perpetrators of terrorist attacks are systematically and expeditiously brought to justice. The two sides also exchanged views on proscription of terrorist individuals and entities.