India, Australia condemn the use of proxies for terror activities by countries like Pakistan

New Delhi: The 13th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism was held in person on 4 May 2022 in Canberra, Australia.

India and Australia strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and emphasised the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism comprehensively and sustainably.

“Both sides condemned the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism,” a joint press release said.
Mr Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism at the Ministry of External Affairs of India and Mr Roger Noble, Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, led the respective delegations of experts to discuss the ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries.

Both sides underlined their commitment to coordinate and collaborate on this important element of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

India and Australia underlined the urgent need for all countries to take “immediate, sustained, verifiable and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under their control is used for terrorist attacks” and expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks.

Australia reiterated its condemnation of terrorist attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot and Pulwama attacks, and reiterated its support for the people and the government of India in the global fight against terrorism.

Both sides exchanged views on various areas of cooperation in the sphere of counter-terrorism, including countering radicalisation and violent extremism, combating the financing of terrorism, and the proscription of terrorist individuals and entities as a tool to combat terrorism.

The release said that both sides reaffirmed their commitment to work closely together to respond to these challenges and discussed ways to deepen engagement between their respective counterpart agencies to further advance interaction, cooperation, and information sharing in the sphere of counter-terrorism.