By IANS,
United Nations : Terming terrorism as the most pressing challenge to international peace and security, India has urged the United Nations to strengthen the framework for its counter-terrorism strategy through adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri, speaking at an open debate on terrorism, said India supported all efforts to strengthen international and regional cooperation to combat terrorism.
He said India also supported implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in an integrated manner in all its four pillars.
He stressed that the time had come for the CCIT to be adopted by the UN.
While the international community had made strides in its efforts to fight terrorism, it continued to face many challenges, he said.
He said there was a need “to remove the moral and legal ambiguities that allow terrorists to gain succour and legitimacy. Progress under mutual legal assistance and extradition cases is still sketchy and is yet to be fully mainstreamed as part of regional and international counter-terrorism efforts”.
“We need to strengthen enforcement efforts to destroy safe havens for terrorists, their financial flows and their support networks. The mechanisms that have been developed to pool the resources and the knowledge of the international community needs to be augmented and made more effective,” he said.
Puri said India condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“No cause or grievance can justify taking recourse to terrorism. India has been at the forefront of global counter-terrorism efforts and is part of all major global initiatives against international terrorism,” he said.