In a first high level visit from the UK to India since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took charge on Tuesday, Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will travel to India to attend the meeting of UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) to be held in Mumbai and Delhi on 28-29 October. He will pay homage to the victims of 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will use the occasion to have a separate bilateral meeting with the British Foreign Secretary during which discussions aimed at deepening India-UK ties under the leadership of PM Rishi Sunak will be held. In fact, EAM may have brief bilateral chit-chat with his counterparts from other countries also, but he would like to have much wider discussions with his British counterpart.
Jaishankar and Cleverly had a telephonic conversation before the latter was confirmed to continue in the post of Foreign Secretary by the newly appointed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday. The two ministers then discussed several issues including counter terror joint efforts. All eyes are on the state of negotiation of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that missed the Diwali deadline, sources said. However, Jaishankar and James Cleverly discussed counter-terrorism and Ukraine conflict prominently during the telephonic conversation. Shortly after the telephonic talk, Cleverly was reappointed foreign secretary by PM Sunak.
Sources say that during bilateral talks the two ministers will be having more elaborate discussions on the issues such as terror, Indo-Pacific, Ukraine, Taiwan, etc.
Meanwhile, India is ready to set the narrative during the upcoming CTC meeting in Mumbai and Delhi that the global community must shun double standards on the issue of terrorism. At the press briefing ahead of the meeting, the United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee Chair Ruchira Kamboj called for united voice on terrorism. She also emphatically said that there should be no double standards on the issue in what set the agenda that New Delhi is going to pitch for. “A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter which country he operates against,” say diplomats. MEA Secretary West Sanjay Verma said that because of FATF, Pakistan had to admit and begin some sort of legal process against two individuals directly responsible for 26/11 terror attacks. However, diplomats who are privy to strategic meetings for this event told TDG that the global community’s attention would be sought towards Pakistan’s based terror outfits. India is set to stress on the need to keep a close watch over these outfits in the neighbouring country.
Moreover, concerns over terrorism emanating from Afghanistan will also be highlighted by India. “Special efforts on the part of Indian side will be seen to draw global attention towards the threat of terrorism in the region particularly Afghanistan based terror activities and Taliban turning a blind eye to the same,” say sources.
Ruchira Kamboj, India›s Permanent Representative to the UN, Counter-Terrorism Committee Chair, said that over the past two decades, member states have made tangible progress in countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism. Yet, terrorist threat persists and despite our best efforts has evolved.
The United Nation Security Council’s two-day meeting in India on counter-terrorism will focus on dealing with use of internet, new payment mechanism and drones by terrorists.
Ministry of external affairs secretary Sanjay Verma said the overarching theme of the meeting would be ‹countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes›. “It›ll begin with tribute to victims of terrorism,” he added.
Mindful of addressing this issue while also recognising potential of technologies to increase effectiveness of counterterrorism efforts, the Committee has come together in India to hold its special meeting on countering use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, Kamboj said. The meeting will be hosted in Mumbai and Delhi on 28 and 29 October, respectively.
Verma said he larger purpose of this unprecedented meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in Mumbai will resonate with rest of the world because what happened in 2008 was an attack on what would be the identity of India in financial and commercial space.