Tag Archives: terrorism

UN launches network to support victims and survivors of terrorism

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The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) launched the Victims of Terrorism Associations Network (VoTAN) on Monday.

The network is a key outcome from the first UN Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism, held in September 2022. It brings together victims and survivors of terrorism, victims’ associations and civil society organizations from across the globe.

The goal is to provide a safe space for victims and survivors to support each other, build resilience and engage as advocates, educators, and peacebuilders.

Solidarity, advocacy and assistance

Vladimir Voronkov, UN Under Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, expressed solidarity with all victims regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or religion, and paid tribute to their courage and resilience.

“In the face of unimaginable personal tragedy, many have chosen to raise their voices, becoming powerful advocates for solidarity and tolerance,” he said, while also calling for greater support.

“In many cases, the needs of victims and survivors are urgent and underfunded. International and national assistance remains critical,” he stressed.

Understanding victims’ needs

The development of VoTAN received financial support from Spain and its launch marks an important step which will allow victims to connect and support each other, said the country’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno.

“Synergies between civil society and governments are essential to understanding the needs of victims, so we trust that other Member States, especially those belonging to the Group of Friends, will also support the Global Network,” he added. 

The Group of Friends of Victims of Terrorism, chaired by Spain and Iraq, was established nearly six years ago to uphold the need to protect victims’ rights. 

Co-chair Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi, Chargé d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq, reaffirmed the Group’s solidarity with all those affected. 

“They all have our utmost respect and commitment to continue doing everything necessary to make them feel recognised, cared for and protected,” he said.

Transforming pain into purpose

The event concluded with statements from five victims of terrorism and victims’ associations. 

Grace Acan from Uganda highlighted “the critical importance of collaboration, resilience and partnership” in her remarks. 

“Through partnerships, we can amplify our voices, advocate for justice and ensure that the needs of victims are met with compassion and urgency,” she said.

“Together, we can transform our pain into purpose, creating a safer, more inclusive world for all.” 

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PM salutes all the women & men who took part in the Quit India movement

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PM salutes all the women & men who took part in the Quit India movement, on the 75th anniversary; Urges people to take pledge for creating a ‘New India’ by 2022

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has saluted all the women and men who took part in the Quit India movement, on the 75th anniversary. The Prime Minister has also urged people to take pledge for creating a ‘New India’ by 2022.

“On the 75th anniversary of the historic Quit India movement, we salute all the great women & men who took part in the movement.

Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the entire nation came together with the aim of attaining freedom.

In 1942, the need of the hour was to free India from colonialism. Today, 75 years later the issues are different.

Let us pledge to free India from poverty, dirt, corruption, terrorism, casteism, communalism & create a ‘New India’ of our dreams by 2022.

Let us work shoulder to shoulder to create the India that our freedom fighters would be proud of. #SankalpSeSiddhi”, the Prime Minister said.

India Cites Salahuddin’s Claim as Proof of State-Sponsored Terrorism

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In a response to the interview by global terrorist Syed Salauddin, the Pakistan-based self-styled head of the United Jihad Council and Chief of internationally designated terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, telecast by a Pakistan TV Channel on 2 July 2017, India said it was a clear example of terrorists being given shelter in Pakistan.

The official Spokesperson said:”The brazen admission by Syed Salauddin of perpetrating terrorist attacks on India and having the capacity to carry out such attacks at any place and time in India is a further proof of Pakistan’s continuing policy of cross border terrorism.”

He said the confession affirms the complicity of Pakistan’s state mechanism in using terrorist proxies as a matter of policy against the neighbours. The interview clearly “highlights the unabashed manner in which terrorist organisations and leaders enjoy freedom of operations in Pakistan, including access to terror financing and procurement and supply of weapons for terrorism,” he said.

Indian spokesperson also said that it is a matter of deep regret that senior Pakistan functionaries continue to justify and defend the activities of such internationally designated terrorist entities and leaders. These terrorists are responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians over the past three decades, he added.

“Pakistan must give up its policy of cross-border terrorism, fulfill its obligations under international resolutions and stop all activities of terrorists from the territory under Pakistan’s control,” sid the spokesperson in a ministry briefing.

Nirupam Sen: A Diplomat from NAM to Neo-Global Order

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Nirupam Sen, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN, died in New Delhi on Sunday aged 70.

Nirupam Sen, a 1969 batch IFS officer, was India’s Permanent Representative from September 2004 to March 2009 and served as Special Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly President. He also served as India’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bulgaria and Norway during his career.

“Saddened at the passing of illustrious diplomat Ambassador Nirupam Sen. My condolences to his friends and family,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted.

Besides his former Indian Foreign Service colleagues, the Communist Party of India party general secretary Sudhakar Reddy was among those who gave him the final send off.

Nirupam Sen served in Oslo, Sofia (Bulgaria) and Colombo. He was figured in Wikileaks which revealed that his deputy in the Permanent Mission told a U.S. diplomat that South Block had given him the power to override Mr. Sen in view of his lack of sympathy for U.S. global policies.

A strong supporter of India’s tradition of non-alignment, Mr. Sen was perceived as close to Nehruvian policies in the Indian foreign policy establishment.

“He was close to the Leftist concerns and his work reflected that often. Most recently, he spoke about the centenary of the October Revolution and his introduction of the revolution impressed all,” Sumit Chakravartty, Editor, Mainstream, said.

PM Meets Indian Community in Washington DC, Praises Their Contribution

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As part of his US visit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday interacted with the Indian community in Washington DC after his CEOs meeting where he pitched for more investments in view of GST roll out and ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India.

Addressing the Indian diaspora, he noted that they rejoiced whenever there was good news from India, and wanted India to scale newer heights, reflecting their inevitable ties with motherland. He appreciated the role played by the diaspora in contributing towards the American science, education and economy. The Prime Minister was confident that they would play a key role in transforming the country.

The Prime Minister asserted that in the last three years, there has not been a single allegation of corruption on his government.

On technology front, he said reducing corruption was his priority and pass on the benefits of Direct Benefit Transfer to people directly by integrating with Aadhar card. The Prime Minister complimented families which have given up their LPG subsidy as it could help provide LPG connections to 5 crore poor households.

“When I think of a developed India, I think of a healthy India, particularly the good health of the women and children of our nation”, he added.

The Prime Minister said that through technology-driven governance, a modern India is on the cards when appropriate policies and governance are in place, achieving the aspirations of the people of India.

On terrorism, he said the world has now understood the threat it poses and pointed out India’s aggressive surgical strikes undertaken recently across the border to stem terrorists from entering the country.

The Prime Minister also appreciated the role of the Ministry of External Affairs, especially of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in helping people in distress, across the world through Twitter and other online social media interactions.

India Signs 7 MoUs, Malaysia PM Razak Meets PM, President

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd. Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak called on President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, April 1, 2017, as part of his state visit, reciprocating PM Narendra Modi visit to Malaysia in November 2015.

Welcoming PM Razak, the President said relations between India and Malaysia are centuries old and is best ever so far. The two countries have taken their strategic partnership forward, particularly after the state visits at a time when India and Malaysia are celebrating the 60th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations.

Malaysia would like to achieve a target of US $15 billion bilateral trade by 2020 with India and as part of it, both countries signed seven MoUs in New Delhi. “Infra has been an area of fruitful partnership between us but we can do much more,” said PM Modi. “We are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to well being of our farmers.”

Malaysian PM also referred to defence and strategic ties saying, “Defence and strategic partnership will be very important for us to fight global terrorism,militancy,extremism,that includes fight against IS.”

Both leaders focused on issues, including terrorism, bilateral as well as commercial agreements.

Jaishankar Makes Half-Way to Convince China on NSG, Azhar Issues

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External Affairs Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar’s visit to China at a crucial stage has come as no magic but certainly paved the way, at least by half, to make Beijing see the reason behind India’s demand.

The latest restructured strategic dialogue with Chinese counterpart Executive Vice Minister Mr. Zhang Yesui besides the State Counsellor Mr. Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi, yielded response on several issues short of India’s demand on terrorism.

Other areas included Afghanistan, multilateral diplomacy including counter-terrorism and also bilateral relations as well as the nuclear issues.

Jaishankar summed up his visit as useful in conveying to the Chinese side “our priorities and concerns and also gaining from them an appreciation of their understanding of the world situation and in what manner we could work together,” which in non-diplomatic terms means some sort of status-quo will continue in India-China relations and that no one should expect any wonders to take place.

On Wednesday, it was a five-hour-long talks sharing views on international issues. China shared its insights and perspectives. What is the common point for both was international trade barriers which may pose equal threat to both Asian giants.

Both agreed that the international situation is in flux and both India and China probably could do one thing together which is a more stable, substantive, forward looking India-China relationship which would inject a greater amount of predictability into the international system, he said.

“On the NSG issue the Chinese side underlined that they were open to India’s application for membership but they had their view of procedures and processes and these were somewhat different from where we are at the moment and where we think most of the group is at the moment,” said Jaishankar summing up his talks.

On UN sanctions on Masood Azhar, India explained the rationale and sought support on its concerns about Masood Azhar’s activities.

Essentially the visit yielded no progress on thorny issues but on business front, there is a common sense of threat from trade barriers and unstable global system, unleashed by President Donald Trump in the US.

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Skype on One Page to Stem Terrorism

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Web-based tech giants YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft (Skype & Bing) have decided to work together to stop extremist content from their websites by creating a common database. The firms have agreed to share ‘hashes’ or unique digital fingerprints they automatically assign to videos or photos of such content.

The hashtag on such content enables the peers to identify the content on their platforms and remove them in turn. "We hope this collaboration will lead to greater efficiency as we continue to enforce our policies to help curb the pressing global issue of terrorist content online," the companies said in a statement.

The firms have long resisted outside or government intervention on policing their sites but came together recently to do more to remove extremist content in view of recent militant attacks in Paris and other cities in the West. YouTube and Facebook have already begun to use such hashes to automatically remove such content.

Until now the practice was that mainly users have to flag content that violates terms of service and then human editors will review and delete such content found in violation of the guidelines or norms. Twitter alone suspended 235,000 accounts between February and August 2016.

The new database will come into operation in early 2017. The European Union has laready established an EU Internet Forum last year to remove such extremist content.