Overcoming The Challenges
South Asian counter-terrorism task force
THE Mumbai terrorist attacks of 26/11 and its political fallout on Indo-Pak relations were yet another harsh reminder of some disconcerting realities about South Asia. It pointed out that South Asia remains one of the most vulnerable regions for terror attacks and trans-national security breaches. That the danger which terrorism poses within and among the countries of South Asia has every potential to stymie political goodwill earned through bilateral and regional initiatives such as SAARC or BIMSTEC. That despite having emerged as the epicentre of the US led global 'war on terror', South Asia's success in hunting down the 'terrorists' or their 'masterminds' have been less than enviable. That terrorism in South Asia is trans-national in nature and necessitates a regional approach, no matter how difficult it may seem to achieve, given the political tension and mistrust among countries in the region. It is high time that countries in South Asia cease to view terrorism as their neighbour's problem, set aside the culture of recriminating neighbours to the detriment of regional cooperation and crack down on terrorism as a common security challenge. In fact the trend follows that many of South Asia's terrorist incidents were allegedly planned outside the country of attack, alleged links of local terrorist outfits with extra-territorial principal organisations or their regional/global financing sources were evident, while their alleged nexus with other trans-national criminal syndicates such as illicit drug traffickers or illicit suppliers of small arms and light weapons were pre-dominant. One must also take into account some key vulnerabilities of the region or alternately some terrorism generating drivers, both internal and external that too contributes to a regional dimension of terrorism in South Asia. Decades old violent ethno-nationalist separatist movements and fragile peace processes, rise of religious radicalisation and extremist outfits, nationalist/Maoist political movements, weak governance, undermining state response capacities, use of violence in politics, poverty and economic inequities are some of the internal regional drivers of terrorism. On the other hand, South Asia's geo-political standing in the forefront of the US-led global 'War on Terror' launched in Afghanistan and the US led invasion of Iraq, have been important external drivers, both contributing to a 'push' and 'pull' dynamics for emerging new terrorist groups and recruits in volatile conflict areas such as Afghanistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan and in Kashmir. Needless to underscore just how profoundly terrorism undermines national and regional aspirations for peace and development and socio-cultural opportunities under SAARC. Given these pressing and challenging realities the categorical resolve expressed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her new government to create a South Asian Task Force on Counter-terrorism sends out an unambiguous political message to South Asian leaders and beyond. That Bangladesh as a pro-active pro-peace member of the international community, is attaching top priority to countering terrorism and militancy nationally and regionally, and is calling upon its South Asian neighbours to set aside their differences and work collectively to combat this common security threat. This also reaffirms a strategic and foreign policy interest of the present government in playing a forthcoming, earnest, and moderating role in re-prioritising regional counter-terrorism (CT) mechanisms on the South Asian bilateral and multilateral agenda. In fact the proposed modalities for such a regional task force is likely to constitute a key talking point for Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni during the forthcoming visit to Bangladesh of her Indian counter-part Mr. Pranab Mukharjee. The timing of the new Government's counter-terrorism and counter-extremism pronouncements is also significant in the global strategic context as it coincides with President Obama's inaugural message on 'engagement with the moderate Muslim world' as opposed to rejection of the extremist terrorist factions, and also his decision to close down the controversial Guantanamo prison in favour of "due legal process". Concurrently, South Asia continues to remain high on the Anglo-American and European strategic and security agenda, for which substantial investments, both financial and human resources have already been made to beef up their diplomatic and military outposts in the region. What remains to be assessed now is whether to fit in the proposed JCTTF within the regional cooperation framework or keep it as a standalone bilateral/multilateral arrangement. More importantly, how to make it functional and effective to serve the common security concerns and diverse national interests of South Asian governments, and yet make this initiative a win-win arrangement for all. No matter how challenging it sounds, given the urgency and scale of carnage of repeated terrorist attacks in the region Bangladesh's initiative may be the fresh breather South Asian people are yearning for. Such an assessment should essentially begin with a reality check that progress in implementing the oldest regional instrument on CT viz. The 'SAARC Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (1988)' or its subsequent Additional Protocol on Financing of Terrorism, have been less than promising in hunting down, extraditing or legally prosecuting any terror suspects in any member country. The main hurdle that remained was the lack of a definitional consensus on terrorism and the scope of interpretation of the act of terrorism by some member countries (Article 17 or 18). This rendered the Additional Protocol an ineffective piece of legislation when it came to enforcement. The adoption of the SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters at the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo last August does provide for the first time, scope for harmonizing different domestic legal systems in the region for investigation, prosecution and resulting proceedings on criminal matters including terrorism. And yet, this too obviates the need to negotiate separate bilateral agreements with individual countries in the region and falls short of extradition provisions again, due to lack of political consensus amongst member countries. More importantly there has not been any significant intelligence sharing among the key security agencies of the region and hence no SAARC administered regional intelligence database has developed. Given this conflict of interests and the fresh bout of post-26/11 tensions between key players of the region, a strong political willingness to bridge many of these political, intelligence, and definitional lacunae would be a prerequisite to make the proposed JCTTF a success. South Asian nations need not be reminded that it is the 'terrorist' that is the 'common and permanent enemy', and suppressing terrorist acts is for the safety and security of the common man. A renewed sense of political urgency and a confidence building dialogue, both bilateral and regional, may be the best way forward, and Bangladesh should take a leading role in this process. Models of various national, regional, global, UN and even overseas territorial CT task forces can serve as a starting point for the proposed JTF and its auxiliaries, as they provide the level and nature of national and intergovernmental agencies required of such a Task Force and the scope and mandate of its work. A relevant example of a regional JCTTF would be that of the APEC. The APEC-CTTF forms for a two-year term to implement APEC's Counter-terrorism Action Plan and reports to the APEC SOM. Apart from exchanging information/intelligence, it assists member countries assess their CT needs for capacity building and coordinates with other international organizations and IFIs for resources and technical assistance. Senior officials of the Foreign, Home, Immigration and Law Ministries, frontline law enforcement and intelligence agencies and Central Banks etc. of South East Asian governments are involved in the CTTF at national and inter-governmental levels. It would be fruitful to build on the experience of the inter-agency functional cooperation achieved under BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism and Trans-National Crimes (JWG-CTTC) chaired by India. The BIMSTEC JWG through its four sub-groups have made substantial progress on sensitive issues such as an informal framework for intelligence sharing on suspected terrorist groups in the region and that on financing of terrorism. The proposed JTF must not allow itself to emerge as yet another 'rhetoric shop' and no practical cooperation. Rather it should robustly address some of the key capacity shortfalls of South Asian countries which may include among others, enforcement frameworks for CT legislation, greater coordination and sharing of intelligence amongst national and regional intelligence agencies, countering the financing of terrorism through coordination of Central Bank Financial Intelligence Units, CT training of local level law enforcement and police forces and stricter border controls etc. A holistic regional approach to CT that includes a regional counter-terrorism strategy and a CT action plan alongside a regional counter-radicalisation strategy have been time and again recommended by security analysts and needs due attention by the JTF. Engagement with multilateral bodies dealing with similar task forces such as the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Directorate (UNCTED) or the Commonwealth Counter Terrorism Action Group (CTAG) could prove productive in exchange of technical expertise, best practices and information. Preventing another 26/11 in India, a September 20 in Pakistan or an August 21 in Bangladesh is what really matters to the people of South Asia and they can only look up to their governments to realise this fundamental right to live. We are hopeful that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's aspirations to give peace and development a chance in South Asia through an effective regional CTJTF would live up to that expectation. The author is currently researching on counter-terrorism at the University of London.
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