Addressing the 192-member UN General Assembly on Friday, Indian Ambassador to the global body, Nirupam Sen, asked the world to act as one in denying terrorists, their ideologues and financiers access to arms, funds and means of transportation of their deadly goods and safe havens.

About the measures taken by New Delhi, Sen said India has adhered to existing regulatory framework governing controls over weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

It has strengthened these obligations by enacting Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery System (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005, an "overarching and integrated legislation prohibiting unlawful activities relating to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems," he said.

To fight terrorism concertedly, he recommended to member states early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention Against International Terrorism (CCIT) to reinvigorate multi-lateral and collective dimensions of counter-terrorism efforts.

Failure of member states to reach an agreement on the definition of the terrorism is holding up the Convention. Some had been advocating that liberation movements should be excluded from the definition.

In his address, Sen repeated the Indian position that terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, irrespective of its motivation, is a "criminal and unjustifiable" act and "no cause, no matter how just, can excuse terrorism." He termed the menace a "pervasive and insidious" threat to global security and core values of the UN.

The Assembly's inability to reach an agreement on concluding CCIT limits the impact of its counter-terrorism efforts, Sen said.

The Indian Ambassador was participating in a debate reviewing the counter-terrorism strategy drawn up by the United Nations two years ago which, he said, established a global framework to deal with the menace and presented a template that would be pivotal in guiding efforts by the world body as also member states.

That India continues to be a victim of international terrorism underscores the rationale behind its conviction that no political cause, argument or belief can and should justify acts of terrorism, Sen told the delegates.

The House had before it a report on the issue prepared by a Task Force which went into the details of the implementation of the strategy.

Stating that the primary responsibility for implementing the Strategy rests with the member states, Sen called for their practical engagement with the Task Force.

Referring to measures India is taking to meet the threat, he said it is utilising all available tools within the arsenal of a democratic nation governed by the rule of law.

India, he said, has established an extensive legal framework for tracking terrorism which criminalises raising funds for terrorist activities, holding of proceeds of terrorism, harbouring terrorists, unauthorised possession of any bomb, dynamite or hazardous explosive substance or lethal weapon or substance capable of mass destruction.

Legislative, procedural and administrative measures have been instituted to regulate strategic exports from India to ensure that conventional weapons do not fall into wrong hands - whether state or non-state actors, he told the delegates.

"We have appropriate controls in place for the enforcement of effective customs, immigration and border controls that are necessary to prevent the movement of terrorists and the establishment of safe havens," Sen said.

Referring to "intricate linkages and networks" that unite terror groups, he said they can only be challenged through concerted international cooperation and efforts by way of extradition, prosecution and information flows. "India is engaged in these efforts at the regional as well as bilateral level."

India believes that capacity-building is one of the essential elements in combating terrorism, Sen said, noting that the Strategy in its entirety recommends an expanded role for the existing counter-terrorist legal and institutional framework within the UN to enhance capabilities of member states to combat terrorism.

"India remains willing to provide all assistance in the larger effort to counter the threat of terrorism," he said.