By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 1995 (IPS)

Sri Lanka and India, two South Asian nations fighting separatist movements, are quietly exploring the possibility of an international convention against terrorism.

The push for a new U.N. convention comes following strong support for such an exercise from the 113-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which concluded a summit meeting in Colombia last month.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgarmar told IPS the summit in Colombia was the first NAM meeting which “unequivocally condemned terrorism.” “It was a step in the right direction,” he said.

Sri Lanka has lost more than 10 political leaders, including a president, to terrorism or to suicide bombers from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE has been waging a ruthless, 12-year-old war for a separate, Tamil-ruled state in northern Sri Lanka.

Kadirgamar said the first step towards the creation of a convention was taken last year when, after years of tough negotiations, the 185-member U.N. General Assembly, adopted a ‘Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism.’

The final NAM declaration adopted unanimously in Colombia last month calls for “the urgent conclusion and effective implementation of a comprehensive international convention for combating terrorism.”

India and Pakistan– two countries traditionally quibbling over definitions of “terrorists” and “freedom fighters” — buried their political differences to support the NAM declaration.

The declaration also reaffirmed that NAM does not consider the struggle against colonialism as an act of terrorism.

“They called once again for the endorsement in principle of the call for the definition of terrorism to differentiate it from the legitimate struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation, for self-determination and national liberation,” it said.

Addressing the U.N.’s 50th anniversary summit last month, Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao said the international community must resolve to combat terrorism because “it threatens the very basis of peaceful society.”

“The world’s great danger today is the spread of terrorism,” he said arguing it becomes another means of waging war when it is sponsored and supported by states.

India, which is fighting an insurgency in Kashmir, has accused Pakistan of arming the rebels. But Pakistan has denied this.

Addressing the U.N.’s Legal Committee, Ambassador Prakash Shah of India said “now that the Declaration on terrorism was in place, it is time to focus on the adoption of a comprehensive international convention against terrorism.”

“We believe there is growing support in the international community for such a convention,” he told delegates.

Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga told the U.N. summit last month that concerted international action is essential to combat terrorism and to compel terrorists to renounce violence and enter the democratic process.

“Unfortunately,” she complained, “effective action to that end has been frustrated through sterile philosophical debate about the nature of terrorism.”

Referring to problems closer home, she said the LTTE network is closely linked with powerful commercial interests engaged in narcotics trafficking, trade in illicit arms and smuggling of illegal immigrants.

She said the seven countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)– India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives– have provided a collective response by signing a Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism.

“This centres on a comprehensive legal regime and practical measures to combat terrorism,” she added.

“I would urge similar action by the United Nations to give legal effect to the obligations arising from the Declaration on the Elimination of Terrorism adopted last year,” Kumaratunga said.

The move to set up an anti-terrorism convention has also, for the first time, received the blessings of the United States.

Addressing the U.N. summit last month, President Bill Clinton urged the 185 member states to set up “a counterterrorism pact so that we would together urge more states to ratify existing antiterrorism treaties, and work with us to shut down the grey markets that outfit terrorists and criminals with firearms and false documents.”

Clinton also called for “a no sanctuary pledge” so that “we could say together to organized criminals, terrorists, drug traffickers and smugglers, you have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

He said cooperation is vital in fighting the increasingly interconnected groups that traffic in terror, organised crime, drug smuggling and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

“These forces jeopardize the global trend toward peace and freedom, undermine fragile new democracies, sap the strength from developing countries, threaten our efforts to build a safer, more prosperous world,” Clinton said.

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