2nd SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism held in New Delhi

The second meeting of the High Level Group of Eminent Experts to strengthen the SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism was held in New Delhi.
Delegations from all eight SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) member countries participated in the conference. SAARC  members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Key Facts

• Issues of terrorism and the measures to strengthen the SAARC anti-terrorism mechanism were discussed.
• Besides, other important issues discussed during the meeting included terrorism financing, drugs trafficking and cybercrimes.
• The member countries shared their national experiences on various related legislations to counter terrorism.
• They agreed towards operationalizing the SAARC Drugs Offences Monitoring Desk (SDOMD) and SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) in order to strengthen the combat efforts against terrorism.

STOMD: The desk was established in 1995 in Colombo (Sri Lanka) to collate, analyse and disseminate information on terror offences, strategies, tactics and methods in SAARC region. It is not functional due to some technical issues.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2016