New Delhi [India], January 14 (ANI): Emphasising the growing need for collective global action against terrorism, Major General Kulvir Singh, Commander of Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, on Wednesday said the ADMM-Plus framework has emerged as a strong pillar of multilateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Speaking at the 16th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus) Experts Working Group on counter terrorism co-chaired by India and Malaysia on Wednesday, he said the forum reflects the seriousness with which participating nations approach the challenge of terrorism.

Addressing delegates, Major General Singh noted, 'Counter-terrorism is not merely a technical or military issue. It is a matter that touches the lives of every citizen, the stability of our societies, and the future of our region. We have gathered here today with a shared purpose to strengthen our collective capacity to prevent, to respond and to recover from the acts of terrorism.'

'Terrorism remains one of the most persistent and most adaptive threats of international peace and security. In the past two decades, we have witnessed its evolution across multiple dimensions, and the statistics are alarming. In the last two decades, terrorism has claimed over four lakh lives worldwide,' he said, adding that only 64 countries worldwide remain free from the impact of terrorism.

Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, Major General Singh said this was the second Experts Working Group meeting being held in Delhi, following an earlier one last year. He said the final planning conference for a Table Top Exercise (TTX) would be conducted later this year in Malaysia, where participating delegations would study counter-terrorism procedures and operational practices followed by ASEAN member nations.

'The outcome of the entire TTX, which will be there, will be put into place by the FTX exercise, which is the field training exercise, likely to be held next year in India itself. We will draw our lessons from this TTX exercise, and then whatever has been the framework when we work on this will be then thereafter implemented on the ground when we go to the FTX exercise next year in Mizoram, in the counter-insurgency and jungle warfare school,' he said.

He added that a comprehensive document compiling best practices from all participating countries would be released at the conclusion of the ADMM-plus meeting. The booklet, he said, would help nations learn from each other's operational experiences and move towards a common ASEAN Counter-Terrorism framework. 'And thereafter, we move forward in this direction by having a common protocol that is ACTT of the ASEAN, so that we abide by those frameworks, and then we progress forward for the counter-terrorism exercise, which we are intending to do,' he added. (ANI)