India asks world community to act in concert to end terrorism

India has asked the international community to show the necessary political will and resolve to end the scourge of terrorism by acting in concert and in a comprehensive manner.

"The scourge of terrorism requires the international community to act in concert and in a comprehensive manner, including termination of sources of its financing and stamping out its networks," India's Deputy Permanent Representative Manjeev Singh Puri said Friday.

Participating in an open debate in the UN Security Council, he said: "The necessary political will and resolve needs to be constantly on demonstration for the international community to give a truly strong and unambiguous signal in our resolve to fight terrorism."

On its part, India will continue to work closely with the counter-terrorism mechanisms established by the Security Council Resolutions 1267, 1373 and 1540, Puri said.

Noting that he was speaking barely two weeks before the first anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, he said: "The images of these heinous attacks remain etched deeply in the minds and hearts of the Indian people."

"They demand an early end to this scourge of terrorism which has plagued us for the last two decades," Puri said, noting: "Terrorism poses a grave threat to all states and all societies."

"It undermines peace, democracy and freedom thus endangering the very foundations of the continued existence of democratic societies," he said. "Terrorism is a global threat and requires a coordinated and concerted global response," he added.

Noting that the UN had been negotiating a comprehensive convention on international terrorism for over a decade, Puri said: "it is important that we all put our heads and minds together with a common resolve of ensuring the early adoption of the convention."

"Its time has really arrived and we all need to act with the necessary political will to ensure the adoption of the convention."

Last updated on Nov 14^th, 2009 at 12:08 pm IST--IANS