World News | Quartet announces formation of counter-terrorism working group

New Delhi [India]March 3 (ANI): The four-nation group comprising the US, Japan, Australia and India on Friday announced the formation of a counter-terrorism task force to sharpen the group’s focus on combating terrorism.

The joint statement issued today by the leaders of the Quad in New Delhi condemned the use of terrorist proxies and pledged to promote accountability for terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, which “claimed the lives of citizens of all Quad countries”. On November 26, 2008, Pakistani armed terrorists attacked Mumbai, killing at least 174 people, including 26 foreigners, and injuring more than 300 people.

Read also | Winter storm: Tornadoes, power outages hit Texas, Louisiana, hundreds of flights canceled

“We announced the establishment of the Quad Counter-Terrorism Working Group, which will explore cooperation among the Quad and with Indo-Pacific partners to combat emerging forms of terrorism, violent radicalization and violent extremism,” the joint statement said.

It noted that terrorism has become increasingly critical as terrorists adapt and use emerging and evolving technologies, such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the Internet, including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts universal. As well as the financing, planning and preparation of terrorist activities.

Read also | G20 summit in 2023: India is off to a very promising start with its stewardship of the G20, US says.

The group also welcomed the focused discussions on these topics at the Quad counter-terrorism policy meeting and tabletop exercise hosted by Australia in October 2022, and said it looked forward to its inaugural meeting in the United States in March 2023 to continue discussions on this global Question. Earlier, in a panel discussion on “The Quartet: The Power and Purpose of the Polygon”, Foreign Minister Jaishankar said that new developments had emerged during the meeting of the Quartet Foreign Ministers.

“If you ask me what’s new that came out today, we agreed to create a counter-terrorism working group. We agreed to work more closely with the Indian Ocean Rim Association. We agreed that we had earlier developed the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Quartet Initiative,” Jaishankar said.

“We are pleased to note the progress of the Indo-Pacific Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Partnership (HADR) since its last meeting in September 2022 when the partnership guidelines were signed,” the statement read

The Quartet welcomes the outcomes of the first HADR tabletop exercise and semi-annual meeting in India in December 2022 and looks forward to finalizing the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the partnership, which will enable an effective and coordinated response mechanism.

Jaishankar also said that one of the outcomes agreed by the Quad was the terrorist list and that the anti-terrorist list should not be politicized.

“We unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations. We condemn the use of terrorist proxies and stress the importance of denying terrorist organizations any logistical, financial or military support that could be used to launch or plan terrorist attacks, Including transnational and cross-border attacks,” the joint statement read.

Furthermore, the Quad reiterated its condemnation of terrorist attacks including the 26/11 Mumbai incident which claimed the lives of all citizens of the Quad state, and the Pathankot attack.

“We are committed to working with our regional and international partners to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks, including through designation by the UN Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee. In this regard, we express our concern over attempts by the UN Security Council to sanctions regime and calls on all countries to maintain the transparent, objective and evidence-based working methods of the UN Security Council sanctions committees,” the statement added.

Referring to UN reform and anti-terrorism standard operating procedures, Jaishankar said, “So I think the military will obviously see the SOP as a prerequisite for their cooperation. We coordinate with the UN to make sure that the UN process is respected, and the work of the UN is also respected.” True to its spirit. I am personally delighted that all of us have collectively expressed our support for UN reform, and indeed, the intergovernmental negotiations on reform, more strongly.”

Quad will operate in 2023 because we have less burden on leadership, he said.

“I took the Quad back to Boxing Day 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami happened. In 2006, when Prime Minister Abe visited India, before he came he thought the Quad could be an effective way to deal with the challenge. There was actually a Quad meeting and I didn’t Remember correctly, in Manila in 2007. Then it didn’t work out. If you ask me why it didn’t work out, it’s not what happened 10 years later, because 10 years later in 2017,” Jaishankar said.

“In 2019, it became a foreign minister level. After the Biden administration came to power in 2021, it became a summit level. First, the strategies of all relevant countries are clearer. If I look at India’s relationship with the United States, it has become more in-depth. The relationship with Japan Relationships are also growing, and the really big change has been with Australia over the last decade. In a way, the Quad is working in 2023 because we have less of a leadership burden,” the foreign minister added. Meanwhile, in a joint statement issued today, the quartet sought to end violence and detention by Myanmar’s military junta. Regarding Ukraine, the joint statement said they “continued to discuss our response to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it caused, and agreed that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons was unacceptable”.

“We stress the need for Ukraine to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations. We stress that a rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and the peaceful resolution of disputes,” the statement added . (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)