Islamabad, June 29, 2021 (PPI-OT): “One of the most concerning emerging trends in global terrorism is in the form of terrorist attacks on the basis of racism, xenophobia, intolerance, Islamophobia or other forms of intolerance, by violent nationalist, supremacist, far right, and other such groups and ideologies in many parts of the world. While this trend in not “new”, the international community is only slowly recognizing the magnitude of this threat: Said Ambassador Aamir Khan, Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan Mission at the United Nations, during an intervention at the during the 2nd high-level conference of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of Member States on “the Global Scourge of terrorism: assessment of current threats and emerging trends for the new decade”.

He called the “recent Islamophobic terrorist attacks across the world are yet another wake-up call for the international community, says a press release received here today from, New York. Ambassador Aamir Khan, welcomed the recent statement made by the UN Secretary General in which he urged the international community to “stand united against Islamophobia and other forms of hatred, now more than even.” While expressing Pakistan’s concern on rising trends, he said that “the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, has further exacerbated intolerance, discrimination, racism, and violence against religious monitories and immigrants, in certain parts of the world, with such terrorist groups capitalizing on the pandemic to spread hatred and conspiracy theories, including through internet and social media platforms”.

Ambassador Aamir Khan insisted that the terrorist threat posed by violent groups and ideologies must be addressed decisively and robustly including through: information exchange and cooperation amongst the Member States; countering religious and racial discrimination, xenophobia and Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination and hate speech through effective legislative and legal measures; greater focus of the relevant UN counter terrorism entities on understanding the threat posed by such groups in context of global terrorism; building effective counter-narratives; and making appropriate changes in the global counter terrorism architecture and UN Security Council sanctions regime, including supremacist groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which have committed heinous pogroms against Muslims.

In the end, he concluded with hope that “the upcoming adoption of the 7th review of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) by the United Nations General Assembly will help us take effective measures in this direction. The Counter Terrorism Week is commemorated from 24 June to 30 June 2021.

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