International community must chalk out plan to check terrorism, says security expert

Condemning the attack by gunmen on Paris-based magazine Charlie Hebdo, security expert Qamar Agha on Wednesday said that militancy was on the rise globally, urging the international community to chalk out a plan to check terrorism.

Agha was reacting to an attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 people, including two police officers dead, with five others seriously wounded.

"It is a sad day, not only for Paris but for the entire world. Militancy is spreading all over the world and no country is safe today. Because of militancy, racism in Europe is also on the rise. I think it is a matter of international concern," Agha told ANI.

"The international community must chalk out a plan to check terrorism. India has been proposing [such a move] for a long time and I think that the United Nations should convene a meeting on the same immediately," he added.

Agha further stated that mere military presence will not curb terrorism, pointing to the lack of democracy in the Middle-East as the reason for the rise in militancy.

"Only military means is not sufficient. Regimes in the Arab world are failing, right from Pakistan to Morocco. In the absence of democracy, militancy is growing in these countries," he said.

"We have suffered terrorism for decades and we have the experience to deal with it. I think that if the international community decides to do so, then terrorism can be contained," he added.

Noting that Charlie Hebdo had recently published cartoon depicting ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Agha further said that the magazine has received threats on a number of occasions.

"The magazine in question in 2011 had published a caricature of Prophet Muhammad and since then, it has been regularly been receiving threats. They recently also published the caricature of al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader," he said.