Terrorists, fugitives hiding across border, says IB chief

Says Uri terror attack was one in a series of such strikes planned during the past few decades

Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma on Thursday said the Uri terror attack was one in a series of such dastardly acts during the past few decades for which planning, financing, training, arming and indoctrination on religious lines owed their origins to sources beyond the borders of India. Mr. Sharma was addressing an anti-terror meet of SAARC countries here.

Without naming Pakistan, Mr. Sharma said many terrorists and fugitives were hiding across the border and weapons were being pushed into Kashmir, according to a senior government official.

Pakistan was represented by Fouzia Mansoor, political counsellor in the Pakistan High Commission here.

Blames it on madrasas

Pakistan told the forum that madrasas (seminaries) were a big problem for the country and had become avenues for radicalising youth and eventually pushing them into terrorist activities. “The Pakistani representative said the nation had lost 60,000 soldiers in terror attacks and authorities were strictly monitoring seminaries, which were instrumental in radicalising the youth,” the official said. Mr. Sharma, who chaired the meeting, asked the SAARC nations to strictly enforce internationally mandated sanctions against terrorist entities and individuals.

In his opening remarks at the second meeting of the high-level group of eminent experts to strengthen the SAARC anti-terrorism mechanism, Mr. Sharma called upon the eight member-states to ratify and enable various conventions enacted by the SAARC grouping, including the Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and Additional Protocols and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Mr. Sharma said, “The meeting was being held at a time when all our countrymen and women are highly agitated over the terror strike at Uri in J&K, in which 18 of our brave soldiers achieved martyrdom and an equal number are battling for their lives.” He said no country was in a position to tackle terrorism on its own. Close cooperation and sharing of real-time intelligence were, therefore, imperative for all of us to secure our countries and our peoples, he said.

Self-radicalisation over the Internet and social media, and spread of influence of the Islamic State all over, including in our country, had added new dimensions to the threat, he said. He identified countering financing of terrorism as one of the most important tools to fight the terror menace, a press statement issued by the Home Ministry said.

Operationalisation

Pointing out that the First Meeting on the SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism in February 2012 stressed the need for immediate operationalisation of the newly created SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk and SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk in Colombo for creating a database for all members, he said not much progress seemed to have taken place on this initiative.