In the backdrop of terror attacks in Pathankot and Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande have decided to increase cooperation on counter-terrorism and radicalisation.
Condemning the recent terror attacks in Pathankot and Gurdaspur, the two leaders also urged Pakistan to bring to justice their perpetrators and the attackers of November 26, 2008 strike in Mumbai, in which two French citizens too died.
To deal with the twin menaces, India and France will strengthen intelligence sharing and infrastructure building.
“From Paris to Pathankot, we saw the gruesome face of the common challenge of terrorism… President Hollande and I have agreed to scale up the range of our counter-terrorism cooperation in a manner that helps us to tangibly mitigate and reduce the threat of extremism and terrorism to our societies. We are also of the view that the global community needs to act decisively against those who provide safe havens to terrorists, who nurture them through finances, training and infrastructure support,” Modi said after conclusion of talks with Hollande.
“Daesh has attacked us. The ISIS is provoking us but we are determined to take the right decision. We will strike time and again those who kill our children. I would like to thank you for the support in dire circumstances. France will never forget. We have decided to strengthen our cooperation against terror,” Hollande said.
For this, special counter terrorism “operational” exercises will be held between French National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) and India’s National Security Guard (NSG). Both GIGN and NSG are trained to perform counter-terrorist and hostage rescue missions.
This will be in additional to the regular counter terrorism drill between Indian and French armies that take place regularly.
In fact, shortly after the Pathankot terror attack National Security Advisor Ajit Doval went to Paris for exchange of ideas in this regard.
Giving out a road map of their cooperation on terrorism, Modi and Hollande said the two countries will together work to counter violent extremism and radicalisation, disrupt recruitment, terrorist movements and flow of Foreign Terrorist Fighters, stop sources of terrorist financing, dismantle terrorist infrastructure and prevent supply of arms to terrorists.
Cyber security is another area the two sides will work together. The two countries will also increase exchanges in the fields of finance, justice and police.
Seeking support to disrupt terrorist networks and financing channels, eliminate terrorist safe havens, training infrastructure and cross-border movement of terrorists, Modi and Hollande called all countries to immediately put a lid on terrorism emanating from their territory. In this regard they also sought action to be taken against all entities, including States that sponsor, provide support, active or passive, to terrorist groups or harbour them.
Stressing that terrorism cannot be justified under any circumstance both leaders asked countries like Pakistan to take decisive actions against lashkar-e-Tayibba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda.
While talking on terror, Modi and Hollande condemned terrorist attacks in several parts of the world, including Paris, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Charsadda, Kabul, Jalalabad, Bamako, Beirut, Tunis, San Bernardino, N’Djamena and the lake Chad Basin Region, Istanbul, Jakarta and Ouagadougou.
Hollande commended India for its stabilising role in South Asia, in particular in Afghanistan, and its recent initiative to launch a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan.
Holland and Modi backed the urgent need for Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations to forge global alliance of nations against terrorism. They sought early conclusion of negotiations and adoption of the CCIT.
Modi and Hollande also expressed concerns over risk of nuclear and chemical weapons landing in the hands of terror groups and urged all countries to fully abide by international norms and agreements.