India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador TS Tirumurti said in his keynote address at the virtually held International Counter-Terrorism Conference 2022 organised by the Delhi-based Global Counter-Terrorism Centre that the violence against Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists is a matter of serious concern and needs to be considered in the fight against global terrorism. He said that the UN has failed to recognise the more variant forms of religious phobias that have emerged over the past few years. “We condemn the anti-semitism, Islamophobia and Christianophobia but we have to be more serious about the emerging other religious phobias – anti- Hindu, anti-Buddhist and anti-Sikh phobias,” said Tirumurti in his address on Tuesday.
During the virtual event, India’s envoy to the UN made a strong point and said that the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy’s seventh review passed by the UN General Assembly in June 2021 only includes “Abrahamic religions” – Islam, Christianity and Judaism. He said that all UN members must address the new threats and the new form of religious phobias.
Al-Qaeda Aiding Pakistani terror groups
Ambassador Tirumurti, who is also chairing the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee this month, said that the Al-Qaeda is helping Pakistan based terror groups Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to strengthen its resources. According to him, the recent development in Afghanistan has given new energy to the terrorist organisation and it has now expanded its activities across Africa with the help of its regional affiliates.
He further added that the Islamic State (IS) has now changed its approach, focusing on gaining ground in Syria and Iraq, while its regional affiliates continue to work in Africa and Asia. “We need to ensure that they and other regional affiliates of ISIL and al-Qaeda don’t get emboldened and take advantage of armed conflict situations in and around the Sahel region and Lake Chad Basin area,” said the Indian envoy.
Dangerous Tendency On Terrorism
Criticising the several UN members’ tendency to divide dangerous fundamental groups into categories based on racially motivated extremism and right-wing extremism Tirumurti said that this will dilute the world’s focus on fighting against terrorism. “Labelling them as “your terrorists” and “my terrorists” will push the world back into the pre-9/11 era”, he stated in his address.
Read more: First Video Of Botched Kabul Airstrike Released
Misuse Of Technology
The Indian diplomat further cautioned that getting arms and ammunition is becoming easier for the terror groups that have become a serious threat to the peace and security of the world.
