New Delhi: India and the UK strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed on the importance of perpetrators of terrorist attacks being systematically and expeditiously brought to justice. This was agreed upon during the 15th meeting of the India-United Kingdom Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism that was held in London on April 4-5 April. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of External Affairs of India, and Chloe Squires, Director General, Homeland Security, Government of United Kingdom, led the respective delegations to discuss the ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries. The United Kingdom and India strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations emphasising the need for strengthening international cooperation to comprehensively combat the global threat of terrorism. The two sides shared their assessment of the terrorist and extremist threats in their respective territories and regions including threats posed by globally sanctioned terrorist entities and individuals. They emphasized the need for taking concerted action against all terrorist networks, transnational terrorist groups and the importance of perpetrators of terrorist attacks being systematically and expeditiously brought to justice. The two sides also exchanged views on the proscription of terrorist individuals and entities as a tool to combat terrorism, as well as ways of working together in multilateral forums, a joint press statement said on Wednesday. Both countries exchanged perspectives across a range of CT challenges: the developing situation in Afghanistan, countering radicalisation and violent extremism; combating financing of terrorism; preventing exploitation of the internet for terrorism; law enforcement cooperation; information sharing; aviation and maritime security. It was agreed to further strengthen and deepen bilateral cooperation to meet these shared challenges. The 16th UK and India Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism will be held in India in 2023, it said. UNI
