NEW YORK: Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Parvathaneni Harish on Wednesday hit out at the international community's gridlock on counter-terrorism and called for the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
Delivering India's statement at the adoption of the Ninth Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, Harish outlined a comprehensive, six-point priority framework while sharply criticising the multilateral body's inability to reach a meaningful consensus on the misuse of emerging tech by terror groups.
Marking nearly three decades since India first proposed the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in 1996, a decade before the UN adopted its own strategy in 2006, the ambassador stressed that the prolonged delay has severely hobbled global action.
"The absence of a universally agreed legal framework continues to hobble collective action against terrorism," the ambassador stated, emphasising that the tool is vital to deny terrorists and their sponsors access to safe havens, funds, and arms. "The time has come to demonstrate political will to conclude the CCIT."
Drawing on India's decades-long history as a victim of cross-border terrorism, Harish firmly rejected any attempts to contextualise or excuse terror attacks.
"A terrorist is a terrorist! We must work hand in hand to root out the murderous ideology without finding any grievance to justify terrorism. Irrespective of any grievance, political cause or strategic calculation, terrorism in all its forms and manifestations must be condemned unequivocally," he asserted. (ANI)
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