(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) DISTILLING THREE days of expert opinion on security issues related to South Asia and the Middle East is no easy task.
But certain key themes emerged during the 'Securing Asia' security summit in London last week with regard to terrorist groups. Several keynote speakers made the point that while the core ideology of Al Qaeda has been diluted, the 'brand' has mutated into deadly off-shoots in the Arabian Peninsula, the Mahgreb and Somalia.
James Brokenshire, Minister for Crime and Security, UK, noted that with the Arab Spring uprisings largely motivated by "economic goals and the wish for human rights", Al Qaeda was having to adapt its ideology to keep pace with the new dynamic in the region.He sounded a note of warning on the severe threat posed by those who finance terror, assisting organisations to buy, for example, explosives and travel documents.
"Countering terrorism finance is a huge challenge. Illicit finance is difficult to combat," he said. He also described cyber security as critical and said the UK was keen to work with Asia to tackle cyber crime.
Information security expert Darren Argyle, of IBM, said the UK's MI5 chief had revealed that a major London-listed company had incurred revenue losses of £800 million as a result of a hostile state cyber attack. Argyle recommended that organisations should protect data with the same care that they protect money. He noted that increasingly cyber criminals target "privileged users within organisations", and recommended close monitoring in these cases. He added that "cultivating a risk-aware culture is very important", and urged organisations to encrypt their data and use technologies which can be aligned and converged across the extended enterprise. "Security built-in is less expensive than security bolted on," he observed.
The role of policing was discussed by Dr Mukul Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, India. Noting that his country faces threats from Islamists, left-wing extremists and insurgencies in the North East, he said "forces inimical to the state usually take advantage of malcontents", in a vicious cycle of under-development and militancy. He noted that while the police have to work within the law, terrorists faced no such constraints.
He called for greater investment in strengthening security and said that internal security issues should be dealt with at all levels - political, economic and social.
He said it was essential to have customised technologies suited to the challenging Indian North Eastern terrain to protect citizens and military personnel against attacks.
Noting that many countries experiencing terror threats cannot afford the latest technology, he urged "seamless sharing of counter-terrorism methods".
Speaker Suhel Seth, managing partner, Counselage, India, said: "Today, countries don't need to attack you in order to destabilise you - they just need to win over the disgruntled within your nation and that's exactly what we are seeing." With regard to the Israel-Palestine issue, Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, urged the global community not to "ignore and derail the peace process by focusing only on the Gulf." Asked by a delegate about the role that China might play in resolving the conflict, he said, that while recognising the support given by China, "when it comes to flexing its muscles, China won't criticise the US. We want action - not just rhetoric".
In his view, the US would never forsake Israel until such a time that Israel "ceases to be useful" - at which point a solution might be possible. Concerning Iran, Middle East expert Jonathan Fryer said the country would have to be "a partner in dialogue" if security was to be achieved in the region. He urged Western countries "to tone down the rhetoric" as this was counter-productive.
He said that cultured and well-educated Iranians were keen to take part in a regional exchange but that negative comments from the US and Israel were making people "rally behind a leader they didn't necessarily like".
Jane Kinninmont, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House, noted that in the light of the upheaval of the Arab Spring, some states were increasingly looking eastwards for security alliances, building on existing trade alliances. It appeared there was a desire to diversify away from a concentration on the US.
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