IDSA: India, Iran fighting terrorism
By Farzam Vanaki
India and Iran, as two members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), are cooperating with each other in the fight against terrorism, said India’s Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
India has been cooperating with many of the Persian Gulf countries, including Iran, in the war on terror, Adil Rasheed, an IDSA research fellow, told Iran Daily in a meeting between the institutes’ members and journalists from the IORA states in New Delhi.
He noted that it is a part of India’s mutual relations with Iran, adding the two countries have had a lot of collaboration to this end.
“The cooperation is ongoing and getting stronger,” but it does not mean that India is siding with any other state against a third country, Rasheed mentioned.
Terrorism is also a threat to India, he said, regretting that radicalization is an “ongoing issue” in his country.
“We are not partisan in our efforts aimed at obtaining assistance from any particular country in this regard.”
Ashok K. Behuria, a fellow and coordinator of the South Asia Center at IDSA, also talking to Iran Daily recalled a 2015 trilateral meeting between the heads of state of Iran, India and Afghanistan in Tehran addressing terrorism, with participants unanimously stressing the need to fight the menace.
Thus, there is already an intergovernmental policy at work to fight terrorism, he said and continued India-iran cooperation is an undeniable fact.
Daesh India recruits
Some 70 Indians living inside and abroad have joined the Daesh terrorist, according to the deputy director general at IDSA.
Alok Deb, who revealed the official figure in his response to a question posed by a visiting journalist, however said, “It is not a major issue when it comes to India. We have had a very cohesive society for thousands of years. The government has been taking a large number of steps to create a climate which is resilient against this kind of fractionalization.”
IORA, IDSA goals
Established on March 7, 1997, IORA is a 21-member intergovernmental organization which seeks to expand regional economic cooperation and strengthen mutually beneficial collaboration through a consensus-based approach.
The Indian Ocean Rim defines a distinctive area in international politics consisting of coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean. Iran is a member state.
IDSA is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defense and security. Its mission is to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defense and security-related issues.
The core values that serve as IDSA’S guiding principles are integrity and honesty, commitment, professionalism, pursuit of excellence, teamwork and innovation and creativity.