SAARC security expert agree to help each other on terror

Top security experts of SAARC countries today agreed to help each other in tackling suicide attacks, radicalisation of youths besides sharing intelligence on terror on real time.
The agreement came at the second meeting of the High Level Group of Eminent Experts to strengthen the SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism which was attended by intelligence chiefs of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Maldives, besides India.
Director General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan Aftab Sultan did not attend the meeting amidst the ongoing hostility between India and Pakistan over terror attack in Uri.
Two junior officers posted in the Pakistani High Commission in India attended the meeting on behalf of Sultan.

All member countries agreed to cooperate on capacity building by way of sharing their expertise on the subjects related to suicide terrorism, counter radicalisation, drugs trafficking and cyber security," an official statement said.
Other issues like corruption and money laundering were also brought up for discussions as they also contribute towards terror financing.

During the meeting, the representatives of SAARC nations discussed on fine-tuning the SAARC Anti-Terrorism mechanism by improving and sharing regional monitoring systems, real time exchange of information, capacity building through training of human resources and early ratification of the relevant SAARC Conventions.
The meeting endorsed the importance of regional cooperation in effectively tackling the menace of terrorism.

The two-day meeting was chaired by Director, Intelligence Bureau, Dineshwar Sharma.
During the meeting, the issues of terrorism and the measures to strengthen the SAARC anti-terrorism mechanism were discussed.
Besides terrorism, the important issues discussed during the meeting included drugs trafficking, financing of terrorism and cyber crimes.
The member countries shared their national experiences on various related legislations to counter terrorism.
All member countries of SAARC agreed to move forward towards operationalising the SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and the SAARC Drugs Offences Monitoring Desk (SDOMD) in order to strengthen the combat efforts against terrorism, it said.