UN can’t continue dodging terrorism definition
He may have been repeating himself, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is right in re-emphasising that the United Nations seems clueless on how to define terrorism. This is not just a question of semantics; unless the UN comes to an agreement on what constitutes terrorism, there is no way a unified global effort to combat the menace is going to be realised, let alone succeed. The Prime Minister's reminder came while he spoke with the Indian community in Brussels, where he had gone to attend the India-EU meet. His remarks came on the heels of the terror attack in that city late last month. later, in the US for the nuclear security summit, Modi reiterated the thought: “Terrorism is globally networked. But, we still act only nationally to counter this threat.” The failure of the international community to find common ground on what precisely constitutes terrorism has given space to various state and non-state actors to define terrorism as per their convenience. Pakistan, for example, does not consider the militancy it has been promoting in Jammu & Kashmir as an act of terror but a ‘legitimate struggle to free Kashmir from India'. Its patronage of anti-India terror organisations such as the lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed too escapes the accusation (in the eyes of certain nations) of fomenting terrorism. This has given rise to the ‘good terrorist, bad terrorist' syndrome, helping state sponsors of terrorism to make hay. The blur on what defines terrorism has also helped those such as China to keep blocking New Delhi's attempt in the UN to name the likes of Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist. According to reports, Beijing has for the second time foiled India's move in this direction, asking a UN panel to defer, for the moment, India's proposal to name and ban Masood Azhar as a terrorist. Of course, it is unlikely that China will do anything adverse against Pakistan. But it is an unsettling thought that China should equate a ban on a known Pakistani terrorist with acting against Pakistan's interests. If anything, this goes to prove the link between Masood Azhar and Islamabad.
Prime Minister Modi had given a call to the United Nations to adopt a global convention on terrorism, in his speech to the UN General Assembly back in September 2014. Since then, he has been hammering home the point from every available international forum to an as yet barely responsive audience that the time had come to shed politics over terror and work together. While the US and the West in general, all of whom have faced terror attacks in recent years, have appreciated India's concerns, there is still little movement in the UN on the matter. Modi's disappointment over the global body's inaction is understandable. It appears that the United Nations has been unable to muster support from influential members, especially those in the Security Council, in this endeavour. The United Nations has to show spine before it's too late.