NEW DELHI: Recognising that the “problem” of terror financing has become “widespread”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that strong legislative and technological and comprehensive monitoring frameworks and a mechanism for actionable intelligence sharing helped India crackdown on the phenomenon.
Chairing the first session of the third ‘No Money for Terror’ ministerial conference, Shah said that strengthening the investigation and police operations, the provision for confiscation of property, preventing the misuse of legal entities and new technologies and international cooperation and coordination had also helped thwart terror financing.
Claiming that amending the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), enhancing the NIA’s powers and “giving a new direction to financial intelligence” had strengthened India’s fight against terrorism, Shah said these measures have contributed to the drastic reduction in incidents and economic losses.
Shah said while terrorism was, undoubtedly, the most serious threat to global peace and security, its financing was more dangerous as the ‘means and methods were nurtured by such funding. Besides, he said, the financing of terrorism weakens the economies of the world. The session’s theme was on ‘Global Trends in Terrorist Financing and Terrorism’.
Pointing out that India condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, Shah said that no reason can justify taking innocent lives. Expressing his sympathy for terror attack victims across the world, Shah said no compromise could be made with this evil.
Holding that India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for several decades, Shah said that Indian security forces and civilians have had to deal with terrorist violence perpetrated and sustained in a coordinated manner. Even as the international community’s collective approach condemns terrorism in all its forms, the forms and manifestations of terrorism were continuously evolving due to technological revolution, Shah said.
According to Shah, terrorists and terror groups understand the nuances of modern weapons and information technology, besides the dynamics of cyber and financial space which they use very well. This transformation of terrorism from “Dynamite to Metaverse” and “AK-47 to Virtual Assets”, Shah said, was definitely a matter of global concern and for which a common strategy needed to be formulated. However, Shah said that the terror threat “cannot and should not be linked to any religion, nationality or group”.
Maintaining that India has made significant progress in fortifying the security architecture, besides the legal and financial systems”, Shah said terrorists were yet constantly finding new ways to carry out violence, radicalise the youth and raise funding.
Disclosing that the ‘Dark Net’ was being used by terrorists to disseminate radical content by concealing their identities, the home minister said there was an increase in the use of virtual assets like cryptocurrency. There was a need to understand the patterns on such Dark Net activities and find solutions, he said. Emphasising that some countries were seeking to undermine and hinder India’s collective resolve to fight terror, Shah said that these states protect and shelter terrorists which was no less than promoting terrorism. He said that member states’ collective responsibility should ensure “such elements never succeed in their intentions”.
Indicating that the regime change in Afghanistan in August 2021 had caused the “growing influence of Al Qaeda and ISIS” which have emerged as a significant challenge to regional security, Shah said that the “new equations have made the problem of terror financing more serious”.