India sufferer of cross-border terrorism, some nations providing protected havens to terrorists: India to UN

India has advised the UN that it has been a sufferer of terrorism, particularly from throughout the border, over the past a number of a long time and that there are nations “clearly guilty” of aiding, supporting terrorist actions and providing protected havens to militants, a thinly-veiled reference to Pakistan.

In his opening remarks to the digital high-level facet occasion ‘Countering Financing of Terrorism in the Post Covid-19 Landscape’ throughout the 2nd Counter-Terrorism Week, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti has stated that stopping terrorists from accessing monetary assets is essential to efficiently counter the specter of terrorism.Delighted to co-host with France & UN companions, High-Level occasion #CTWeek on “Countering Financing of Terrorism in post-Covid landscape”India follows International requirementsNational Risk Assessment undertaken regularlyCash couriers main terror financing technique – 1/2 pic.twitter.com/aU5ITPHqRo— PR/Amb T S Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) June 25, 2021
“India has been a victim of terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism, over the last several decades,” Tirumurti stated Friday.”COUNTRIES AIDING TERRORISM”He famous that whereas some states lack the legal-operational frameworks and essential capacities for countering the financing of terrorism, “there are other States that are clearly guilty of aiding and supporting terrorism, and wilfully providing financial assistance and safe havens to terrorists.While we must enhance capacities of the former, the international community must collectively call out the latter and hold them accountable.”The remarks gave the impression to be an obvious reference to Pakistan.INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONTirumurti additionally emphasised the necessity for worldwide collaboration to counter financing terrorism, assist and strengthen the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and supply larger funding to UN Counter-Terrorism structure.India co-hosted the side-event together with the Permanent Mission of France, UN Office of Drugs and Crime, UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate.COVID BRINGS NEW RISKSTirumurti voiced concern that the Covid-19 pandemic has introduced forth new dangers to the efforts of Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT), with faux charities, faux Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), and crowdfunding notably turning into extra frequent sources of terror-financing.EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES“Terrorist organisations have also begun to exploit the anonymity afforded by blockchain technology for fundraising and finances,” he stated including that as a part of the National Risk Assessment (NRA), an NPO Risk Assessment in 2020 and 2021 was performed.”Identifying linkages between various individuals, NPOs and terrorist outfits active in the region have been given due weightage,” he said.“While we remain vigilant to the risk posed by the misuse of emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, the benefits of many of these technologies far outweigh the risk and need to be harnessed to strengthen our CFT efforts,” he said.INDIA’S FINNETTirumurti told the event that India is in process of upgrading its Financial Intelligence Network or FINNET by introducing machine learning or artificial intelligence, chatbots, virtual assistants, natural language processing, locational intelligence and spatial analytics, orchestration and threat intelligence, to perform advanced analysis, strengthen the financial intelligence infrastructure and ensure quicker dissemination of terror-financing cases to law enforcement agencies (LEAs).India has developed the necessary capabilities to counter-terrorism, including legal and institutional framework and technical capability to combat terrorism in its various forms and manifestations, particularly countering the financing of terrorism, he said.Tirumurti further said that cash couriers have remained one of the major terror-financing methods to avoid audit trials. Pointing out that India has incorporated the role of cash couriers in its NRA, he said the Government’s steps towards lowering cash transactions through Banks are proving to be effective in containing cash flow through Banks.“During an investigation of cases of terror funding, earnest efforts are made to unearth the trail of funds and disrupt the entire network so as to give a severe blow to the terrorists and terrorist organisations,” he said adding that India follows international standards for assessment of the risk posed by terrorism to its financial sector and undertakes preventive and mitigation measures.FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCEIndia has been a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since 2010 and in line with recommendation 1 of the FATF, National Risk Assessment related to terror financing is undertaken regularly to assess the emerging, and dynamic threats posed by terrorists, to identify methods and instruments used by terrorists or terrorist groups in order to attract, move or use funds for criminal purposes, he said.India performed National Risk Assessments in 2019 and 2020 and has made “tremendous progress” in implementing the suggestions of FATF commensurate with its Money Laundering and terror-financing dangers. Tirumurti stated India is gearing up for its upcoming analysis of FATF.India has been contributing proactively to additional worldwide cooperation to fight the financing of terrorism on the regional and worldwide degree. In 2018, India contributed USD 550,000 to the UNOCT’s programmes concentrating on capability constructing of nations in East and Southern Africa. This yr too, India has contributed half 1,000,000 {dollars} to additional strengthen these efforts, Tirumurti stated.ALSO READ: Pakistan to stay on FATF gray listing, requested to focus on senior terror leadersALSO READ: Major blast in Lahore exterior Hafiz Saeed’s home; 3 killed, 20 injured