India has called to establish a permanent secretariat for a sustained focus by the international community on countering terror financing, built on the unique initiative of the ‘No Money for Terror’ conference. The proposed secretariat is likely to be in line with other multilateral organisations such as the Financial Action Task Force, and was proposed by union minister Amit Shah on Saturday.
India will shortly be circulating a discussion paper to all participating jurisdictions for their comments. “During the deliberations, India has sensed the need for permanency of this unique initiative of NMFT (no money for terror), in order to sustain global focus on countering the financing of terrorism. Time is ripe for a permanent secretariat to be established,” home minister Amit Shah said in his concluding address at the conference.
He said: “In order to take this thought forward, the chair statement includes the offers to establish a permanent secretariat in the country. Shortly, India will circulate a discussion paper to all participating jurisdictions for their valuable comments.”
While details of the proposal were being worked out, Shah said the NMFT secretariat must focus beyond border cooperation as no country alone could defeat terrorism. According to him, India has successfully tackled numerous challenges, including terrorism, in the last few decades.
“With India’s policy of zero tolerance against terrorism, a strong framework of counter-terror laws and empowerment of agencies, India has seen a significant drop in incidences of terrorism and has succeeded in ensuring strict punishment in such cases,” the home minister said.
Shah said the central government had decided to develop national and global databases on terrorism, narcotics, and economic offences. In a veiled attack on neighbouring Pakistan, he also mentioned that some countries, their governments and agencies have made “terrorism their state policy”.
“In these terror havens, it is necessary to shackle their unrestrained activities along with a strict economic crackdown. All the countries of the world will have to make up their minds on this, rising above their geopolitical interests. We observe that some countries repeatedly support terrorists and harbour terrorism. I believe that terrorism has no international boundaries, so all countries should think beyond politics and cooperate with each other,” he said.
According to an estimate by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, criminals across the world launder close to $2 trillion to $4 trillion every year. A major part of this goes in fuelling terrorism, Shah said.
India’s priorities
Talking about terrorism, Shah said considering the quantum and challenges, agencies and authorities working in fields of counterterrorism and terror financing, have to adopt a long-term strategy.
“In this perspective, today I would like to draw the attention of this august gathering towards some priority issues – preventing diversion from legal financial instruments by fighting anonymity in financial networks, restricting the use of proceeds of other crimes for terrorist activities, preventing use of new financial technologies, virtual assets like cryptocurrencies, wallets for terror activities, eliminating use of illegal channels, cash couriers, hawala networks, preventing use of non-profit organisations to spread terror ideology,” he added.
India’s learning on counterterrorism important
Officials said the need for a permanent secretariat was felt to take forward India’s learning on counterterrorism and terror financing. “India with its experience of counterterrorism and combating financing of terrorism, in Khalistan, Islamic terrorism, Northeast insurgency has the right experience to offer much to the world,” said a senior government official.
Senior FATF delegates, who attended the deliberations, said care must be taken to avoid duplication if an NMFT secretariat is established. “We have to avoid a duplicate structure… I won’t reject the proposal outright but have to see what is the added value that such a new structure will bring to the fight against terrorism. If there is value addition to what the FATF is already doing, in terms of checking money laundering and terror financing, then we will be open to considering it,” a delegate said.
A total of 72 countries and close to 15 multilateral anti-terror organisations attended the third edition of the conference. China did not attend the conference, while Pakistan was not invited.
Asked about Pakistan’s absence, Indian officials said, “India is positioning itself as a global player in the anti-terror fight and not limiting its discourse to Pakistan alone.” Government officials said a call on whether to include Pakistan in the proposed NMFT secretariat will be taken at a later stage.
Consensus building a challenge
Other delegates from multilateral forums said consensus building in a world sharply divided on terrorism was going to be difficult. While China and Pakistan had thwarted attempts to censor terrorists like Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed among others at the UN Security Council, the Russia-Ukraine war had also ended up creating a massive divide on what constitutes terrorism.
The NMFT conference was nevertheless welcomed by all. “Some countries have faced more terrorism than others, such as India, New Zealand, Turkey. In times of crisis, you can call partner countries and communicate,” said former FATF chief Marcus Player. Sri Lanka and Jamaica have called for institutionalisng the conference annually.
(With inputs from Arunima)
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