India draws UNSC attention to Pakistan arming terrorists using drones, demands zero-tolerance

United Nations, Nov 11 (IANS) India has drawn the Security Council's attention to Pakistan sending arms to terrorists across the border, including through the use of drones, and demanded that the Security Council uphold zero-tolerance for terrorism and its sponsors.

“India has suffered due to cross-border terrorism carried out using illicit weapons trafficked across our borders, including now through the use of drones”, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said on Monday.

“The increase in the volume and sophistication of such arsenals reminds us that these groups cannot sustain themselves without being enabled, financed or supported”, he said.

Harish, who spoke at a Security Council Open Debate on Small Arms, did not name Pakistan, but it was clear who he was referring to.

“The Security Council must continue to uphold a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and to those who facilitate, sponsor, finance or enable the use and movement of such weapons”, he said.

He said, “India has fought the scourge of terrorism for several decades and is therefore aware of the dangers posed by the diversion and illicit transfer of small arms and ammunition to armed non-State actors and terrorist groups”.

Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba, who presided over the meeting, called for effective arms embargoes that are consistently enforced to prevent the proliferation of small weapons.

He said that “with an estimated 850 million small arms in circulation globally — about 650 million in civilian hands -- the small arms trade is often cited as among the least transparent of all weapon systems”.

He said that it was imperative to prevent terrorists from getting arms.

Besides addressing the dangers from the nexus of terrorists and transnational criminal networks working together, exploiting porous borders, weak regulatory mechanisms, attention should be paid to “emerging threats such as craft-produced and 3D-printed firearms”.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his report to the Council, warned about the emerging dangers from terrorists making weapons using 3-D printing technology.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee's Executive Directorate "has identified the manufacture of 3D-printed small arms and light weapons, parts and components by terrorists as an emerging Issue”, he said.

“Member States are encouraged to take steps to regulate, through national legislation, digital blueprints and the electronic sharing of designs and construction data for the illicit manufacturing of firearms and components”, he added.

--IANS

al/rs