External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said the BRICS Summit in Goa clearly recognised State-sponsored and State-protected terrorism as the biggest challenge to the world and that there cannot be business as usual when it comes to dealing with terrorism. Summing up the BRICS Summit at the media forum, Swaraj said terrorism was universally recognised as a key threat to stability, progress and development, which featured strongly in the conference narrative and its eventual outcome.
The Minister’s statement came at a time when the Government is facing criticism for failing to manage a reference to cross-border terrorism in the BRICS declaration. However, Swaraj said that threat of terror featured strongly at BRICS. Without naming any country, she added there has always been an overarching political context for the BRICS meetings which essentially underlines that a serious global discourse cannot be the ‘preserve’ of a few countries with a ‘narrow agenda’.
“While our economic engagement and political cooperation remained key factors, there was a sharp realisation that global development and prosperity was very much dependent on continued peace and security...Indeed, what we saw was not just an understanding of the dangers posed by terrorism to the economic aspirations of the world but a growing recognition that this has now become a truly global challenge that the international community can only ignore at its peril,” Swaraj said.
She maintained there is a developing consensus among BRICS that it cannot be business as usual without taking action on terrorism. “We must be prepared to extract costs for those who sponsor and support terrorists, who provide them sanctuary, and who, despite their own claimed victimhood, continue to make the false distinction between good and bad terrorists. BRICS has always been global in its approach and today, there is no bigger global challenge than State-sponsored and State-protected terrorism,” Swaraj said in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
She further said there is a need to extract costs from those who sponsor, support and provide sanctuary to terror networks besides continuing to make false distinction between good and bad terrorists.
Indirectly comparing BIMSTEC countries and Pakistan, Swaraj said the regional bloc today represents the ‘polar opposite’ of a terrorism promoting polity. “They are focused on improving the quality of life of their people, on skills and employment, on education and health, and on the quality of governance and the deepening of democracy. These are nations who are actively promoting connectivity, cooperation and contacts amongst themselves…There cannot be a greater contrast with those who reject even trade and connectivity for political reasons,” Swaraj said in an obvious reference to Pakistan that blocked several agreements on transport and connectivity in SAARC that were suggested by India.
“We have always looked upon BRICS as a template for a new approach to global Governance in the 21st century. The five nations represent the voice of the changing world and our approach to global issues signifies a convergence across different continents on the opportunities and challenges that await us…In Goa we have strengthened the institutional foundation of the BRICS and set it on the path of seeking collective solutions which will not only help propel the BRICS nations forward but also be a voice of hope, peace and prosperity for the entire world,” Swaraj summed up.
‘People-to-people contact won’t stop’
With various film bodies imposing a ban on Pakistan actors after the Uri attack, the Government on Tuesday said people-to-people contact would continue and there was no plan to stop it. This was conveyed by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs during discussions on Indo-Pak relations with a specific reference to surgical strikes across the loC on September 29. “People-to-people contact would continue and there was no plan to stop it,” he told the panel.