Rajnath Singh offers India’s counter-terror experience to ASEAN partners

Rajnath Singh said India was willing to share its operational counter-terrorism experience with ASEAN countries and their dialogue partners at a defence ministers’ meeting in Cebu, the Philippines, on Thursday, October 29. He also called for closer cooperation to protect maritime trade.

Addressing the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, known as ADMM-Plus, the defence minister proposed combined military exercises, training and capacity-building work, alongside stronger exchanges of intelligence. He said these measures could improve the participating countries’ collective ability to respond to terrorism.

Singh described India’s expertise as the product of decades of responding to cross-border security challenges. He argued that its strategies had been tested in operations and offered that experience as a resource for partners.

Maritime security and regional cooperation

Referring to last year’s Operation Sindoor, Singh said the operation had destroyed numerous terrorist facilities. He presented it as an illustration of India’s position on terrorism supported by states; those descriptions were the minister’s account of the operation.

Rajnath Singh also raised the risks posed by interruptions to maritime trading routes. He argued that public statements alone would be insufficient as international threats to those routes changed.

The minister said India would continue contributing to security in the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo-Pacific. He outlined a regional approach in which countries work together to build resilience and maintain peace and stability.

India’s support for international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, was intended to safeguard shared interests, he said. He linked that position to freedom of navigation and overflight, saying it was not directed against a particular country.

His remarks came as several ASEAN members and other democratic countries have called for compliance with the convention amid China’s increased military assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, according to reports.

Also read: Kozhikode food claim: teacher held as police dispute allegation | Arunachal dam protests spread to Daporijo; two security personnel hurt