Global axis against terrorism taking shape
Seema Guha
Times of India
September 15, 1999
Title: Global axis against terrorism taking shape
Author: Seema Guha
Publication: Times of India
Date: September 15, 1999
NEW DELHI: US State Department co-ordinator for counter-terrorism
Michael Sheehan will arrive here on Friday to hold talks with Indian
officials. He will meet Alok Prasad, joint secretary in charge of the
Americas, and Vivek Katju who oversees Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The two Indian officials were in Washington earlier this month to
review the situation in Afghanistan and ways to end the instability
which has fuelled the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the region.
The spillover effect of the Taliban has had repercussions in India,
Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as well as in China. During the
discussions here, India is certain to point a finger at Pakistan which
remains one of the staunchest supporters of the Islamic regime in
Kabul.
The scourge of terrorism and its baleful influence in countries as far
apart as the US, India, Russia, China and Central Asian states have
given an urgency to international attempts at combating it. India is
hoping to reap rich dividends.
Foreign ministers of 16 Asian nations, meeting in Kazakhstan on
Tuesday, pledged to ``counter and eradicate all sources of terrorism''
and refrain from assisting terrorist groups in one another's
countries. Also early Tuesday morning, during a brief stopover for
refuelling here, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who had cut
short his visit to Auckland and was flying back home, met national
security adviser Brajesh Mishra. Putin rushed back home after a second
bomb blast in Moscow this week, which authorities suspect was the work
of terrorist groups. The two spoke of the threat posed to the entire
region by terrorist outfits operating out of Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Russia has been facing the brunt of militant
Islamic groups in Chechneya, Dagestan and Moscow. India, faced with
similar problems in Kashmir and the north-east, has extended full
support and sympathy to Russia. Mishra and Putin criticised the ``open
endorsement'' of militant groups like the Lashkar-i-Toiba by a senior
Pakistan minister.
Events in Dagestan and the two successive blasts in Russia have added
a sense of urgency among the countries of the region to join hands in
the fight against extremism. One of the resolutions adopted on Tuesday
by the Kazakhstan conference hopes to get to the heart of the problem.
The resolution called member-states not to give either direct or
indirect assistance - military, economic or political - to groups
trying to overthrow legitimate governments. The participants at the
Conference for Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia
(CICA) declared a special commitment to wiping out terrorism from the
world's most populous continent, home to 3.5 billion people.
``Asia is torn apart by conflicts and mistrust,'' said Kazakhstan's
president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who first proposed the forum in 1992.
``A special importance must be attached to terrorism because of the
volatile situation in Asia today.''
The conference includes Russia and former Soviet states like
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan. The other members
are China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Israel,
Egypt, Turkey and the Palestinian administration.
In his speech, external affairs minister Jaswant Singh also focussed
on the dangers of terrorism. ``Our region is also regrettably home to
many terrorist groups who recognise no frontiers. Can we work
collectively to counter the growing threat of cross-border terrorism
in Asia. These are some of the potential areas of cooperation for
us,'' he said.
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