India among 60 nations to attend White House summit on terror

Washington, Feb 17: Over 60 countries including India will participate in a White House summit on "countering violent extremism" beginning on Tuesday in the backdrop of alarming growth of ISIS and recent terrorists' attacks in France and Denmark, senior administration officials have said.

While the first two days of the three-day summit are primarily focused on domestic extremism given that there was substantial increase in home grown terrorism, the final day, Thursday would see full participation of more than 60 countries including several ministers to focus on foreign fighters among others.

India, which for the past several decades has been a victim of foreign supported terrorism and faces a challenge of domestic violent extremism that include Naxals and Maoists in particular, would be represented by R N Ravi, Chairman of the powerful Joint Intelligence Committee.

"It's a very full and very ambitious agenda to expand and deepen our global coalition to counter and prevent violent extremism," a senior administration official said yesterday.

The conference would highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from radicalising, recruiting, or inspiring individuals or groups in the US and abroad to commit acts of violence, efforts made even more imperative in light of recent, tragic attacks throughout the world.

Led by US President Barack Obama, top officials of his administration including Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice would be addressing the White House Summit. Obama would be addressing the gathering twice in the summit The significance of the summit has gained in the last few months in particular with the alarming rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, terrorists attacks in France and Denmark recently.

ISIS is the near-term threat that we all are focused on: US

"Countering violent extremism is only one element of all of the different tools that we're bringing against terrorists, and specifically groups like ISIL," the official said, adding that the focus would be on sharing information, how to make sure that all governments know those who may cause harm and what action can be taken.

Noting that the US remains particularly concerned about the possibility of groups like ISIL recruiting Americans to fight, the official said the message at the White House and the agenda itself is not entirely focused on ISIL itself.

"ISIL is the near-term threat that we all are focused on, but we also recognise in the United States there has been violent extremists that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and so the agenda for all three days is going to show a wide array of speakers and participants from all backgrounds who combat radicalisation, violent extremism and terrorism in its many forms," the official said.

PTI