India and France call for concerted action against al Qaeda, ISIS, Lashkar, Jaish, Hizbul terror groups: MEA

India and France have expressed a joint call for action against terrorist organisations that pose a threat to the respective countries and in their neighbourhood, underlining the urgency of emerging global concerns from a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

During a counter-terrorism meeting in Paris on Tuesday, both countries mutually assessed the evolution of threats from terrorists, and emphasised that the Afghan territory should not become the centrepoint of radicalisation and terrorism.

They stressed that Afghan soil must “never again” be used to attack any country or shelter, recruit or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist attacks in accordance with the UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021).

India and France also expressed the need to take concerted action against UN-proscribed terror networks such as al Qaeda, Islamic State/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen, while also ensuring that perpetrators of terror attacks are “systematically and expeditiously” brought to justice.

“Both sides exchanged views on various areas of cooperation in the sphere of counter-terrorism, countering illegal narcotic drugs and arms smuggling, and expressed their will to keep sharing information on countering radicalization and violent extremism, combating the financing of terrorism, preventing misuse of the internet for terrorist or violent extremist purpose, acting against internationally designated entities and individuals,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

They said that all countries must ensure their territories are not used to “plan, launch terrorist attacks against any other country, shelter or train terrorist fighters”.

During the 15th Meeting of the India-France Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism in Paris, both countries “exchanged views on the proscription of terrorist individuals and entities as one of the tools to combat terrorism. Both sides shared information about their priorities and procedures for pursuing sanctions and designations against terrorist entities and individuals”.