India seeks concerted global action defeat terrorism

"The international community must join hands to eliminate the risks relating to sensitive materials and technologies falling into the hands of terrorists and non-state actors," India's Permanent Representative Hardeep Puri told the UN Security Council Monday.

The international response to the threat needs to be national as well as multilateral and global, he said.

Highlighting the dangers of transfers of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) to non state actors, Puri said that given the evolving complex challenges emanating from non-state actors to international peace and security, such risks are more than ever before.

"India supports international efforts to prevent non-state actors and terrorists from acquiring WMDs and their means of delivery," he said The Indian envoy recalled Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's statement to the UN general assembly in September that "the fight against terrorism must be unrelenting and fought across all fronts with no selective approaches in dealing with terrorist groups or the infrastructure of terrorism".

"Indeed, our entire region, South Asia, has been wracked by the activities of the biggest terrorist organizations and entities in the world, be they Al-Qaida, elements of Taliban or Lashkar-e-Taiba and others," Puri said.

It is critical that all sanctions regimes established by the Security Council must ensure due process in their working procedures and decision-making, he said.

Earlier, speaking as chairman of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee, Puri said the  body will continue to play a critical role in the global fight against terrorism, and will strive to do so in a more strategic and transparent  manner so that it can more effectively contribute to the global counter-terrorism efforts, within the scope of its mandate.