To Fight Global Terror And Crime, Nations Must Cooperate Beyond Borders: HM Amit Shah During Interpol Meet

On 21 October 2022 Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the 90th Interpol General Assembly on its concluding day in New Delhi.

Underlying the collective harm terrorism inflicts upon humanity, Shah urged the member countries to come together to fight the menace of cross-border terrorism.

Here is a summary of the Union Home Minister's remarks at the event:

• The Criminal Justice System is not a new thing for India. Deep discussions and deliberations on jurisprudence and punishment are present in Indian historical texts and epics.

• In today’s time, crime has become borderless. To stop this kind of crime and criminals, we have to think beyond conventional geographic borders.

• The police and law enforcement agencies are often faced with the twin challenge of enforcing the law within the ambit of the sovereignty of the State and understanding the global nature of the crime, detecting criminals, and worrying about justice. Here the role of Interpol is crucial.  

• The way the ‘criminal syndicates’ collude and coordinate with each other at the international level, there is no reason why countries can’t do the same.

• In order to bring about seamless coordination between nations, it is important to agree on the definition of 'terrorism' and 'terrorist'. The commitment to fight against terrorism together and narratives like 'good terrorism, bad terrorism' and 'terrorist attack - big or small’, both cannot go together.

• Talking about the challenge of terrorist ideology, Shah said that attempts to paint the promotion of online radicalisation as a political problem make the fight against terrorism ineffective.

•  Shah said in view of the emerging trends of global trade of narcotics and challenges such as narco-terror, there is a need for closer cooperation in areas like platforms for the exchange of information and intelligence among all nations, intelligence-based joint operations, regional maritime security cooperation, mutual legal assistance, effective mechanism to combat money laundering.

•  Shah called upon Interpol to help build a real-time information exchange network and a comprehensive narco database among anti-narcotics agencies of all member countries.

• Interpol should prepare a future plan for the next 50 years on the basis of its experience and achievements over the last 100 years.

• India is committed to cooperating with Interpol towards setting up a dedicated Centre or Convention and launching a dedicated communication network for counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics agencies around the world.