15 Sep :Union Home Minister, Shri Shivraj V. Patil, inaugurated an International Seminar on Terrorism organised by the Asia Pacific Chapter of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi today.
He expressed hope that such seminars would provide opportunities to forge cooperation and coordination between Governments, police and security organisations of countries in different regions of the world to effectively tackle the menace of terrorism. He emphasised the need for exchange of intelligence on terrorism and called upon countries not to provide shelter to terrorists and to prohibit the free flow of funds, which are collected for financing terrorism.
The Home Minister also stressed upon putting an end to the open sale of weapons and explosives in some countries and pointed out that training of police personnel and development of innovative technologies were critical to combating terrorism and threats from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
The National Security Adviser, Shri M.K. Narayanan in his keynote address, emphasised upon the global ramifications of terrorism, elaborating on the particular susceptibilities of Asia on account of its rapid economic growth. He said that the continent faced challenges originating from diverse issues such as ethnicity, religion, politics and development, as also climate change and energy security. The use of asymmetric warfare, he stated, was the most significant challenge. He expressed that the outreach of technology, identity politics and the emergence of non-state players had enhanced the vulnerabilities of nation-states. Stressing on zero tolerance against terrorism, the National Security Adviser emphasised that liberal democracy was the strongest answer to terrorism.
Alain Bauer, President, French National Crime Commission, in his presentation, “New Criminals and Terrorist Threat”, focused on the need to diagnose and analyse terror acts before looking for solutions. Highlighting the dangers of customised forms of terrorism, he stressed on the need for strengthening the basic structures of the judiciary, police and society for tackling terror. He underlined that terrorism is principally a policing issue and also pointed out that in addition to sharing compiled data on terrorist outfits, cooperation between countries should extend to timely exchange of actionable intelligence.
Earlier, Director, Intelligence Bureau, Shri P.C Haldar mentioned that traditional counter-terrorism strategies needed review and required a quick, dynamic and uniform response conforming to national systems. He stated that in the fast changing paradigm of terror, the terrorist remains invisible and exhibits a cross-national spread, spawning intricate networks, with the internet being used as a force multiplier and a resource base for terror cells.
The two-day seminar is being attended by foreign delegates from 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, President and key officials of the IACP besides senior security administrators and police officials from terrorism/militancy affected States, officers of Central Para-Military Organisations and analysts/commentators from think-tank institutions in India.