NEW YORK: Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said on Saturday that Pakistan had achieved major gains in countering terrorism, however, more international cooperation is required to eliminate the scourge across the world.
Speaking in the General Assembly High-Level Conference of heads of Counter Terrorism Agencies , Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi said that these accomplishments, in the battle against terror, had come at a high human and financial price though, it had not diminished Pakistan’s resolve to fight on.
In this regard, she pointed to the fact that the largest anti- terrorism operation anywhere in the world has been carried out by Pakistan, deploying over 200,000 of its forces. Nevertheless, she asserted, Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism strategy has involved more than utilizing military means.
Terrorism – a global security challenge:
Ambassador Lodhi told the world body that as no country can fight this menace alone, therefore, sustainability of gains in the fight against terror largely depends upon strengthening regional and international cooperation.
She said that Pakistan took the lead in the region, and organized the first Islamabad International Counter Terrorism Forum in April this year.
“Terrorism and Extremism remain among today’s biggest security challenges, feeding off instability in many parts of the world and also fueling it”, Ambassador Lodhi said and added that the threats posed by terrorist groups defy national borders, and thus represent a global security challenge which no country can tackle on its own.
The spread and easy access to information technology, she said, has given further impetus to connections between transnational terrorist organizations which are becoming more sophisticated in their operations.
“Acting as a border-less force terrorist groups freely operate in the cyber domain and disseminate their toxic message to promote online recruitment, raise funds and even plan and launch attacks”, she explained.
She underscored the need to have a secure and sustainable information and coordination mechanism in the field of Cyber Space to prevent its abuse.
Emphasizing the need for effective cooperation between national, regional and international actors to frame a coordinated response, the Pakistani envoy said, “The challenges we face today will continue to evolve in new and unpredictable ways. We need to work together and in unison on our capacity to evolve and adapt to meet them”.
