By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
Thimphu : South Asian governments plan to design a new anti-terror template to suppress terrorism and terror financing later this June, in the highly volatile region often subjected to terror risks.
Top officials of the eight-member South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will meet in Islamabad, Pakistan, later this year to discuss the burning issue, said SAARC secretary-general Sheel Kant Sharma.
“There will be a meeting in June in Islamabad and a back-to-back meeting of police chiefs from SAARC on terrorism. Combating terrorism, terror financing and intelligence sharing would be discussed,” Sharma told the media in the Bhutan capital.
The scourge of cross-border terrorism, illicit drug money used to fund terror networks, proliferation of fake currency, and arms trafficking are serious crimes that have been stoking fear among South Asia policy makers.
SAARC leaders signed a legal cooperation pact to combat terrorism in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last year with the same objective.
As early as 1985, member states signed a SAARC regional convention in Bangladesh to counter terrorism and vowed to eliminate the menace, but it had hardly brought any benefit.
Heavily armed and well-financed terror outfits operate in South Asia, making the region vulnerable to constant security threats, leaving many government security forces helpless in tackling the violence.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal Database, about 31,824 fatalities were recorded last year as a result of various terror attacks in the security-fragile region.
The 16th SAARC Summit is being held in Thimphu, where top leaders from the region are expected to add more substance to the anti-terror subject in the next two days.