Defence Minister Parrikar calls upon ASEAN to destroy terror networks

Terming terrorism as the foremost challenge in the region, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said it should be delegitimised as a State policy and urged ASEAN countries to “cooperate unreservedly” to locate and destroy terror networks.

Security frameworks in ASEAN region still do not give enough attention to terrorism. This must change, he said at 20th ASEAN Regional Forum Heads of Defence Universities Meet in New Delhi.

“Terrorism remains the foremost challenge to our region. We need to oppose terrorism resolutely everywhere, delegitimise it as an instrument of State policy and cooperate unreservedly to locate and destroy terrorist networks,” he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam as members.

Parrikar’s remarks came on a day when terrorists launched another attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir. Three terrorists, believed to be Pakistan backed, were killed in the attack on the army camp north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

Nineteen soldiers were killed in a militant attack on an army camp in Uri on September 18. The Army had launched surgical strikes targeting terror camps located across the LoC on September 28 night.