China yet to respond to invite for Delhi conference: Official
Pakistan, which is the largest source of funding of terror activities in India, and Afghanistan, which poses a significant threat, have not been invited , the officials added.
China is yet to respond to India’s invite to attend the third ministerial “No Money For Terror” (NMFT) conference, being held in Delhi on Friday and Saturday to discuss global trends in terrorism and terror financing, and the use of formal and informal channels to fund terror activities, officials in charge of the conference said on Thursday.
Pakistan, which is the largest source of funding of terror activities in India, and Afghanistan, which poses a significant threat following last year’s takeover of the country by Taliban, have not been invited , the officials added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday inaugurate the two-day conference, being attended by 73 countries including India, and 15 multilateral bodies such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Interpol, and Europol . Union home minister Amit Shah will deliver the concluding address on Saturday and also chair a session on Friday on “global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing”.
Speaking at a press conference on the event on Thursday, director general of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Dinkar Gupta said “Choking of financial flows to the terrorist outfits is one of the most crucial ways of stopping terror acts”.
Asked whether Pakistan, Afghanistan and China were invited for the conference, Secretary (West) in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) , Sanjay Verma, said “China has been invited” but remained silent on Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Gupta said the conference will not discuss country specific issues but the larger menace of terror financing. He added that 20 countries are being represented by ministers at the conference. Responding to a question on regulating social media platforms from the perspective of clamping down on terror financing, Gupta admitted that social media platforms are being used for the purpose
“We do have evidence of this kind of thing happening. This is an issue that needs to be discussed .”
He added that the conference is well-timed because it comes on the back of the recently held 90th Interpol General Assembly (in October) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee meetings (earlier this month), both hosted by India.
The third ministerial conference on counterterrorism financing – two previous meets were held in France and Australia in 2018 and 2019 – is being organised by India on November 18-19, when delegates will also discuss emerging technologies and the requisite international co-operation to address challenges in combating terror financing, said a government official who asked not to be named.
According to the agenda prepared for the NMFT conference, there will be four sessions spread over two days in which representatives will discuss “global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing”; “use of formal and informal channels of funds for terrorism”; “emerging technologies and terrorist financing” ; and “international cooperation to address challenges in combating terrorist financing”.
Issues such as potential of global terrorist organizations to expand, the nexus between terrorism and organized crimes, use of hawala for funding, virtual assets, crowd funding platforms, and the dark web will be discussed during the four sessions, said a second government official, who also did not want to be named.
