Amit Shah Urges BIMSTEC Nations to Unite Against Terrorism and Drug Smuggling
What Happened
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the first BIMSTEC Home Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, attended by delegations from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Shah reiterated India’s zero tolerance policy towards terrorism, calling for real-time intelligence exchange, mutual legal assistance, and extradition cooperation. He warned that drug trafficking proceeds fuel organized crime and terrorism, stressing that narcotics smuggling cannot be tackled by one country alone. Shah also highlighted the need to counter new threats such as encrypted communication, cryptocurrency, drones, and dark web transactions used by criminal networks.
Key Takeaways
The meeting underscored BIMSTEC’s role as a regional security platform, with India pushing for collective intelligence sharing and coordinated law enforcement. Shah’s remarks highlight the urgency of tackling terror financing and narco-trade through a whole-of-region approach.