There is no fair play with terrorists and a country has to use all tools to crack down on terrorists to avoid casualties among security forces, said Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and a Member of Parliament in Israel justifying the use of disproportionate force.
“If it is needed,it is authorised to fight with an F-16 fighter jet against a terrorist armed with an M-16 rifle. That is the only way. Because, otherwise if you are seeking fair play, may be you are trying to catch the terrorist [but] you are going to lose your own people…,” Mr. Dichter said in his address at the Counter Terrorism Conference 2017 here on Wednesday.
The quantum of force in fighting terrorists has been an issue of much debate in India. The Indian Army has a high attrition rate in its counter-terror operations which has gone up steadily in recent times.
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Most of the casualities on the part of security forces tend to occur in the initial firing by terrorists.
Mr. Dichter referred to such instances and suggested use of heavy force as long as civilians were not around. However he cautioned on the need to stick to rules.
Countries will always win the war on terrorists, he stated, if they connected as countries, cooperated and generously shared information and at the same time obeyed the law as it is written.
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“Because when you are starting to cross lines and to bypass laws you are getting into trouble, you are losing your values…,” he said speaking to The Hindu .
With both India and Israel being victims of terrorism, counter-terror cooperation has been among the top items within the larger security cooperation. Mr. Dichter said the cooperation has increased over time but added there was scope to expand it.
With the threat of the Islamic State (IS) going up sharply in India, there is emphasis on both sides to expand the cooperation.
Counter-terror cooperation is expected to figure prominently during the much-anticipated visit of Prime Minster Narendra Modi to Israel later this year.
No good terrorists: Gen. V.K. Singh
Chairing the session Gen. V.K. Singh (retd.), Minister of State for External Affairs, reiterated India’s stand that there were no good and bad terrorists. He called upon the global community to support India’s proposal at the United Nations for a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
India had first proposed the CCIT at the UN in 1996.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval made a strong pitch for a common definition as well as a global convention on terrorism.
He said that the nature of terrorism is constantly changing in the backdrop of technology and social media.
“It has changed in the past, it will change in future… You are actually into fourth generation warfare,” he said.
He stated that despite this there was not enough cooperation among the international community and said there was no common definition of terrorism.
Mr. Doval said some countries tried to justify terrorism by saying that the “cause meets the ends.” In this context he reiterated the need for a CCIT.