Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will press for bringing into operation the SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) when he visits Islamabad on Wednesday to take part in the conference of Home Ministers.
The desk was established in Colombo in 1995 to collate, analyse and disseminate information on terror offences, tactics, strategies and methods in the SAARC region.
“There are some technical issues that are coming in the way of making the STOMD functional, despite Pakistan being part of the association; we want to go ahead with the proposal. We are ready to cooperate on all aspects of terror,” said a senior official of the Union Home Ministry, who is part of Mr. Singh’s delegation.
An official said the desk would come in handy for sharing real-time information on terror-related offences among the eight SAARC nations.
Mr. Singh is also likely to raise the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase in January this year and will speak on the “cooperation” required from Pakistan to nail the perpetrators. According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the attack was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). India shared investigation details with Pakistan and allowed a Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan to visit the airbase in March-April. The NIA was to be allowed a visit to Pakistan to probe the case but Pakistan has not been forthcoming about it so far.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
