Quad’s announcement on formation of working group to counter terrorism is a significant development for India

Recently, Quad meeting took place in New Delhi, India. It was attended by Foreign Ministers of four of the countries to discuss fundamental matters and to come out with productive conclusions. Subjects of discussion were security partnership, Power and Purpose of the polygon. It is a developing alliance that turns into a consultative committee for major dialogues. India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, USA Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa expressed concern and warned Russia over Nuclear Attack. Apart from Russia-Ukraine war, China’s expansion policy in Indo-Pacific region, Counter Terror and radicalization, India’s role in being a prospective mediator and peacemaker in ongoing war were some of the primary concerns of the group.

But the major announcement made in favor of India is formation of a working group to counter terrorism. It will check emerging of terror and radicalization and will condemn publicly violent extremism in all its form and manifestations. They also mentioned about politicizing of terrorism matters something China is doing by blocking UN ban on Pakistan based terrorists. China has been doing this for a while by holding US-India proposal for a UN ban of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Indian administration never missed a chance to escalate the issue of Pakistan and China’s double standards on multilateral platforms. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier at the BRICS Summit spoke to not politicize the designation of global terrorists.

Raghuvender is an international affair expert and is also a guest lecturer. He talked about the recent development in Quad meeting and said, ‘India is making its way to higher achievements by getting G20 presidency this year. It will provide country the upper hand in major issues, countries are dealing with. India has got the chance to represent its approaches and policies in certain matters and to lead the countries with the same. Regarding the counter terror working group, it is a winning point for the country as India has always been vocal about terrorists, radicalization, countries supporting terrorism, and ways to end terrorism. Not only here, currently India is been looked upon as a peacemaker in Russia-Ukraine war by countries like US and Germany, Australia that explains India’s stable reputation at the global platforms.’

Statement from the Quad said, ‘We are committed to working together with our regional and international partners to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks, including through designations by the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee.’ The group also noted the use of emerging and technological systems for practicing terror activities. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist attacks, internet hacking whereas financial planning ad preparations of terrorist activities. India shares the border with Pakistan largely and is a matter of security and geographical tensions between both the countries. India accuses Pakistan as a terrorist based country that supports and give shelter to global terrorists, with having all the evidences. Sightings of drones coming from across the border have become common in the states sharing borders with Pakistan, according to the Indian Army. 

Expert Raghuvender believes just like us, terrorists have too shifted their medium to technology. He told EAT news, ‘It is very clear, terrorists are not somebody uneducated running these groups. They have a peculiar academic background in Information Technology sector. Maximum suspects that Indian police or security force arrests are either students having engineering background or people trained by cross border groups. Now they have a better option to keep an eye on us via drones, it is not a threat to their manpower, they are intelligent enough to know how to operate them, also the weapons they use requires technology knowledge.’ He also mentioned popularity of social media platforms that is making it a safe space for such groups to expand.

‘Due to easy availability of smartphones and internet, number of people using Facebook, WhatsApp, telegram and Instagram has escalated. It has become easier for terrorists to inject terrorism and radicalization in people sitting across the border or world, for that matter. This process is helping in building their group bigger and recruitment easier’, he said. Where technology is playing in favor of terrorists, countries like China and Pakistan are playing their part. China is becoming a constant obstacle for India’s proposal to put UN ban on Pakistan based terrorist for specific reasons. It also called Quad as one of small groups causing instability in relations. Meanwhile Quad indirectly warned China to not politicize terrorism for personal benefits.

Working for counter terrorism has been a priority for India which has been mentioned by S Jaishankar, India’s Foreign Minister several times on global platforms. Countries’ uniting against terrorism is a development, India was working for, from years. Experts have already called it India’s year.