Asserting that terrorism constitutes a global threat and must be rooted out, India has said it is determined to confront challenges posed by the scourge and overcome them "decisively and completely."
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The call by an Indian delegate to the United Nations Inder Jit came almost simultaneously as New York City was put on high alert following specific threat that its underground local train system could be a target of terrorist attack in the coming days.
"Counter-terrorism effort must not be confined to specific individuals or groups. Nor should it deal with superficial symptoms of the malaise," he said.
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The efforts, he told a General Assembly's committee on Thursday, must concentrate on a "thorough and systematic destruction" of this phenomenon.
"Terrorism must be rooted out, its support bases destroyed and its diverse manifestation across the world addressed appropriately," he said.
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There can be no compromise on war against terror, Inder Jit said, adding that India was determined to confront the challenges posed by it "decisively and completely."
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Without naming Pakistan, he charged "a few States" with flouting the world body's directive against providing moral, material, financial and logistic sponsorship as also arms to terrorists.
"States must ensure that their territories are not used for terrorist installations or training camps or for preparation or organizations of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other states or their citizens," he said.
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Inder Jit said the world body's directive made it clear that no consideration of political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature could justify criminal acts intended or calculated to promote a state of terror among the general public.
Reminding delegates that India has been at the receiving end of cross border terrorism for more than two decades, he said the attacks represented a threat to the established values of Indian society, its democratic political process and to law and order machinery.
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But India's ability to deal with vicissitudes of terrorism stems from its ability to accommodate different cultural traditions which have contributed to emergence of secular democracy, he added.
In this context, he pointed out that not a single Indian has been identified or detained for terrorist acts perpetrated by al Qaeda or the Taliban.
"The deliberate weakening of secular democratic forces in many parts of the world over decades left the fundamentalists as the only vehicle of popular dissent. It is only through strengthening the former that we can hope to gain the upper hand in the battle against terrorism," he said.
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