Terrorism Threatens Social Fabric And Economic Development: MoS Lekhi

Terrorism impairs human rights, jeopardises peace and security and threatens our social fabric and economic development, said Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakashi Lekhi at an international conference on human rights, civil society and counter-terrorism. 

Without taking any name, she said that for the last several decades, India has been a victim of terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism, by UN-designated terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahidin, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, as well as their aliases and proxies. 

She said, "The memories of the horrors of the 2001 Parliament Attack, 2005 Delhi bombings, 2008 Mumbai, the 2016 Pathankot and Uri and the 2019 Pulwama terror attacks are still afresh."

Lekhi added that we need to distinguish between the political ideologies which are part of a pluralistic democratic polity and radical ideologies which subscribe to terrorism. To paint them with the same brush is inaccurate and counterproductive.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy to participate at the UN High-Level International Conference on Human Rights, Civil Society &amp; Counter-Terrorism at Malaga, Spain. Highlighted that terrorism is the biggest violator of human rights. India has been a victim of terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism. <a href="https://t.co/M81xFVecia">pic.twitter.com/M81xFVecia</a></p>&mdash; Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Lekhi/status/1524069853249867778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While talking about Afghanistan, she said that the country is once again at the risk of becoming a safe haven for Al-Qaida, ISIL and a number of other UN-designated terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

"We need to strengthen the international legal framework by early adopting of the comprehensive convention on international terrorism thereby defining terrorism, prosecuting terrorists under special laws and making cross border terrorism an extraditable offence globally," Lekhi suggested. 

She also said that India gives priority to the work done by civil society in the prevention of terrorism and rehabilitation of victims of terrorism and adheres to the principles that activities of civil society organisations remain impartial, their functions transparent and apolitical. 

"We need to remain vigilant to the risk posed by fake NGOs and charities which support and cause illegitimate activities. We will continue to support UNOCT and UNCTED including in our capacity as chair of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee," she said.