Kolkata, April 26 (Inditop) Almost 70 percent of the world’s terrorist activities occur in Asia and insurgent outfits operate across the globe from the sub-continent, according to a top security expert.
“As far as terrorism and security matters are concerned, the entire focus of global terrorism has shifted from Europe to South Asian countries. And nowadays, almost 70 percent of global terrorist activities are taking place in Asian countries,” retired vice-admiral P.S Das said, while delivering a lecture on “Changing Dimensions of National Security” Saturday.
He said the focus of terrorism had mainly shifted because of the emergence of three Asian giants – China, India and Japan – as global superpowers.
“Terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Al-Qaeda, Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) and many others are based in Asian countries. And these terrorist organisations are not targeting any military power, but they are attacking civilians.”
“We have to take all of these into account and until we are prepared for such factors, we’ll not be able to tackle these problems,” he said.
Das said India is surrounded by countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal.
“Our country is located in the middle of Myanmar and Afghanistan – the two major destinations where narco-terrorism is on at a rapid pace. Bangladesh is another neighbouring nation which has often been blamed for giving shelter to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agents,” said Das, a national security expert and former Commander-in-Chief of India’s Eastern Naval Command.
Terming the 26/11 attack as a humiliation for India’s national security, he said: “Non-state actors are more dangerous than any particular nation, as we could face them with our military capacities. But the non-country threats are targeting common citizens which is the toughest challenge for us these days.”
He said national security did not only mean external threats from enemy nations, but also comprised internal security matters which were even more important and critical to fight.