In South Africa last week for a G-20 review conference on Global South issues, the air was charged with both urgency and purpose. While there was considerable concern on the conflicts around the world, including in Africa, some did ask questions about the recent India-Pakistan conflict. I explained how the provocation over the selective killing of Hindu tourists in Pahalgam by Pakistani terrorists led to India’s kinetic response against the terrorist camps in that country. Thankfully, better sense prevailed on both nations, who ended the conflict after four days. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said unequivocally that any further terror attacks from Pakistan will be responded to with stronger force.Terrorism sadly bankrupts the world, not just in lives lost, but in derailed development and compromised sovereignty. In an article earlier this month, India’s former foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, argued that the time has come to move beyond episodic outrage and towards building an enduring institutional architecture. She advocated a Global South-led initiative to combat terrorism not merely through punitive responses, but by integrating counter-terrorism into the development and justice frameworks of the emerging economies. Our Prime Minister too raised this forcefully at the recent G-7 summit in Canada, sending a strong message to Pakistan.We can go a step further. India, along with the African Union, can lead the formation of a G-20 task force on terror financing, with India simultaneously spearheading the launch of “T20: Twenty Against Terrorism”, a new multilateral platform shaped by those who endure terrorism, not just observe it.This reflects not only diplomatic responsibility but an ethical imperative. The world cannot afford another wasted decade of inertia.From Srinagar to Somalia, from Sahel to Southeast Asia, the costs of delay are too widespread.As Ms Rao noted, inequality and fractured global governance perpetuate both poverty and violence. Just as the G-20 rose to the challenge of global economic instability in 2008, it must now recalibrate its mandate to safeguard peace and justice. India, as a democracy with deep counter- terrorism experience and development-first credentials, is uniquely placed to galvanise this movement.This can be the world’s blueprint for a secure future. And its founding message should be clear: we will not be silenced, and we will not be sidelined. Peace will not be gifted to us, and we will define it and defend it together.Focusing on the African continent, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in recent consultations with Nigeria’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu, emphasised the importance of anchoring G-20 priorities in Agenda 2063: Africa’s strategic blueprint for inclusive development, self-reliance, and prosperity. But the ambitions of Agenda 2063 cannot work in a security vacuum.Africa’s underdevelopment fuels not only internal instability but cross-continental threats, including migration surges and trafficking routes.Europe’s security is intrinsically linked to Africa’s prosperity.India’s recent “Operation Sindoor” military strikes, following the Pahalgam attack, exemplifies a model of strategic restraint and calibrated force. But the underlying message is starker: terrorism is no longer just a national issue. The networks that enable it, from hawala channels to crypto wallets, are global.We must establish a permanent G-20 task force on terrorist financing. If the G-20 can coordinate swift action on shadow banking, crypto markets and corporate taxation, why has it neglected the financial pipelines of terrorism?Within the G-20 framework, we propose the creation of a “T20: Twenty Against Terrorism” task force to unite the world’s most terror-affected regions: nations that are too often recipients of post-crisis aid, not partners in pre-emptive strategy.The T20 will not replace the United Nations or the FATF, but complement them by bringing speed, field-based intelligence, and cultural context. The focus would be on: *Local de-radicalisation models*Digital surveillance and capacity building*Community resilience*Financial tracking innovations*Real-time intelligence sharingAmong the G-20 members, long-term victims such as India, the African Union member states, Mexico, Turkey and Russia should no longer be silent partners.They must become active architects of the global counter-terror framework.This effort can begin immediately via informal consultations during South Africa’s presidency and culminate under the United States’ G-20 presidency with the T20’s formal launch.Jim O’Neill, who coined the “Brics” acronym around two decades ago, recently underscored India’s structural strengths, whether its youthful population, resilient domestic demand, and strategic partnerships across the G-7, G-20 and Brics blocs. Yet, what remains unspoken is even more critical: India’s rising moral legitimacy as a voice of the Global South.Its G-20 presidency in 2023 marked a watershed by facilitating the African Union’s formal admission into the grouping. Now, India must deepen its leadership by championing the creation of a G-20 Task Force on Terror Financing and convening the first-ever T20 Twenty Against Terrorism summit in New Delhi, ideally with a permanent secretariat.The urgency for such architecture is not abstract; it is deeply moral and immediate. Terrorism thrives where global inaction persists and where the financial networks remain unchecked.From Johannesburg to Jakarta, Srinagar to the Sahel, the demand is unmistakable: the world must step forward, not as passive recipients of Western security templates, but as the proactive shapers of a new global security paradigm.As the United States prepares to take over the G-20 presidency, India along with other G-20 members must act swiftly and set up a task force with teeth to track and cut terror financing, and launch the T20 as a coalition of the most affected, yet under-represented, states. The precedent of the 2008 G-20 financial reform must now guide us toward a 2025-26 security recalibration. The message from South Africa is unmistakable: we reject a future defined by terror. In the spirit of “ubuntu” (humanity to others), we will author our own peace — collectively, urgently and unapologetically. The writer is the secretary-general of CUTS International, a 40-year-old leading global public policy research and advocacy group.
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