Nay Pyi Taw: The seven-nation BIMSTEC
grouping on Friday adopted a convention to combat terrorism and
insurgency, a step that is expected to add teeth to India's
action against militancy, particularly in its north east.
Foreign Ministers of India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Bhutan, Thailand and Nepal signed the Convention on
Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism,
Trans-National Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking at
the 12th BIMSTEC Ministerial meeting here.
The ministers also agreed to include climate change as
a key area of cooperation for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
countries.
Inaugurating the ministerial meet, Myanmar Prime
Minister Thein Sein stressed on cooperation in combating
terrorism and trans-national organised crime.
"As you heard the Prime Minister of Myanmar in his
inaugural address did stress on terrorism. I think terrorism
has become a hot issue for discussion. There is unanimity
about recognising the fact that terror has become one of the
major irritants, one of the major obstacles for development
and growth," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told
reporters here.
The signing of the convention coincides with India
stepping up action against its north east insurgents,
particularly the ULFA. There were reports that ULFA leader
Paresh Barua was recently present in the Kachin region of
Myanmar bordering China.
Krishna said groupings like BIMSTEC provide leaders an
ideal background to exchange notes and to further resolve that
terror has to be dealt with squarely and decisively.
"Insurgents find safe havens in other countries. All
the countries must be conscious of the fact that we must not
allow insurgents to operate from our territory because it
would be harmful for the entire neighbourhood. We hope that
sufficient care would be taken about it," Krishna said.
He said the Convention would provide a legal framework
for enforcement agencies of the member nations to cooperate in
combating the scourge of terrorism, organised crime and drug
trafficking.
"The Convention would send a strong message to the
perpetrators of such crimes that the BIMSTEC region can no
longer be used as a safe haven and the governments and the
people of the region are united in their response to the
threat posed by terrorism, organised crime and drug
trafficking," he said in his address to the plenary.
Besides Krishna, the ministerial meeting was attended
by Bangladesh Foreign Ministers Dipu Moni, Lyonpo Ugyen
Tshering of Bhutan, U Nyan Win of Myanmar, Sujata Koirala of
Nepal, Rohitha Bogollagama of Sri Lanka and Kasit Piromaya of
Thailand.
As the meeting got underway, Krishna handed over the
Chairmanship of BIMSTEC to his Myanmar counterpart U Nyan Win.
"You will always get unfailing support from India to
support the consolidation of BIMSTEC," Krishna said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 11, 2009, 12:32