India has underlined the need to distinguish between political ideologies, that are part of a pluralistic democratic polity, and radical ideologies that subscribe to terrorism, emphasisng that any attempt to paint both of them with the same brush will be "counterproductive".

"We need to distinguish between the political ideologies which are part of a pluralistic democratic polity, as against radical ideologies which subscribe to terrorism,". India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti, said India has always maintained that nations should not go back to a pre-9/11 era when terrorists were being divided into 'your terrorist' and 'my terrorist'.

Speaking at the Ambassador-level Annual Briefing to Member States organised by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT),  he said the categorising them weakens the collective resolve to combat terrorism, PTI news agency reported.

"We see a renewal of this attempt by trying to divide terror again into categories and label them. For example, under the label of xenophobia, racism, and other forms of intolerance or in the name of religion or belief, efforts have been made to bring into this discussion categories such as right-wing extremism, far right and far left extremism, violent nationalism, racially ethnically motivated violent nationalism," he said.

Tirumurti said there is a need to understand is that in democracies right-wing and left-wing are part of the polity and come to power through elections reflecting the majority will of the people.

"Democracy by definition contains a broad spectrum of ideologies and beliefs. We need to distinguish between the political ideologies which are part of a pluralistic democratic polity, as against radical ideologies which subscribe to terrorism. Our fight is against such radical ideologies and not against democracy. To paint them with the same brush is inaccurate and counterproductive," he said.

Amid efforts to prepare report of the Secretary-General mandated by the General Assembly to assess the threat posed by the terrorist acts on the basis of xenophobia, racism, and other forms of Intolerance, or in the name of religion or belief, Tirumurti underlined that "we should not be selective in our approach but in fact seek to implement a zero-tolerance against terror."

Tirumurti, currently the Chair of the 1988 Sanctions Committee as well as of the Counter-terrorism Committee of the Security Council, said the overall threat of terrorism has only increased. "The threat posed by al-Qaeda, ISIL and their affiliates in Asia as well as in Africa, and their links with those designated under 1267 need to be recognised and addressed," he said.

He said the recent report of 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee highlighted how the close link between the Taliban, especially through the Haqqani network, and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups still continues.

"We need to ensure that radical groups in one region do not draw sustenance from another," the official added.

Tirumurti said he looked forward to enhancing synergies between the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), both of which play complementary roles.

He also voiced concern over the "real emerging threat" posed by the terrorist use of information and communications technologies, emerging technologies such as social media, new payment methods, video games, encrypted messaging services, cryptocurrencies and drones for which most of the member states do not have adequate response capabilities.

"We have been witnessing cross-border terrorist attacks through drones. Global expert bodies such as Financial Action Task Force or FATF have been raising red flags about terrorist financing, and laxity of certain member states in bringing their practices at par with international Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) standards," he said, calling for the need to strengthen efforts of FATF.
 
"Countering terrorist narratives, particularly through internet and other online means, have remained a challenge. Enhanced online presence of young people during pandemic has exposed them to exploitation by a terrorist group through hate speech and recruitment. Let us not forget that the greatest violators of human rights are the terrorists,"  Tirumurti declared. 

(SAM)