India at UNSC meet reiterates concern over terrorist entities gaining access to chemical weapons

New York [US], March 1 : India on Monday (local time) reiterated its concern regarding the possibility of terrorist entities and individuals gaining access to chemical weapons at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria (Chemical weapons).
The remarks came from Prathik Mathur, Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to UN, during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East Syria Chemical Weapons.
"India has been repeatedly cautioning against the possibility of terrorist entities and individuals gaining access to chemical weapons, including in the region," Mathur said.
He highlighted that India's position on issues related to Syria acceding to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is well known. "It is our principled stand that CWC is a unique, non-discriminatory disarmament instrument for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"We encourage continued engagement between Syria and the OPCW Technical Secretariat to resolve the differences at the earliest," he said.
During his address, he said, "We support the collective efforts by all the parties to ensure that the credibility and integrity of the Chemical Weapons Convention are maintained to the fullest."
India continues to believe that progress on other tracks-political and humanitarian-would help with potential forward movement in respect of the political process in Syria as advocated by Resolution 2254, Mathur added.
Meanwhile, a Chemical Weapon is a chemical used to cause intentional death or harm through its toxic properties.
Munitions, devices and other equipment specifically designed to weaponize toxic chemicals also fall under the definition of chemical weapons, OPCW informed on its website.