UN General Assembly again urges adoption of terrorism convention proposed by India

The General Assembly has overwhelmingly again urged the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) proposed by India.

The Ninth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which was carried by 140 votes with three against on Wednesday, urged member nations to "make every effort" to adopt the CCIT, which has been languishing for 31 years after New Delhi proposed it.

India's Permanent Representative P. Harish warned that the absence of a "universally agreed legal framework" has hobbled the fight against terrorism.

Denouncing the two main roadblocks to its adoption, he reminded the member nations that terrorism can be countered effectively through international cooperation "only if there are no double standards (and) only if there is no distinction between good or bad terrorists".

Opposition to the CCIT has come from Pakistan and some other countries that try to make an invidious distinction among terrorists, trying to cloak some in the garb of "freedom fighters" to justify their support for terrorism.

"The international community must reject double standards in counter-terrorism," Harish said.

"There can be no justification for terrorism. Irrespective of any grievance, political cause or strategic calculation, terrorism in all its forms and manifestations must be condemned unequivocally," he said.