Without naming Pakistan, Prime Minister NarendraModi used the G-20 forum to assert that “one single nation” in South Asia is harbouring “agents of terror”, while he called for the imposition of sanctions against those who sponsor the menace.In an obvious reference to Islamabad, Modi said: “Indeed one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region.The Prime Minister lauded the efforts launched through G20 initiative on countering terror financing, stressing that all countries should meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
“The growing forces of violence and terror pose a fundamental challenge. There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy. India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism. Because anything less than that is not enough,” Mr.Modi said. “For us a terrorist is a terrorist.”
Analysts say that Mr.Modi’s “internationalisation” at the G-20 of Pakistan’s alleged support for terrorism, is likely to fuel the war of words between New Delhi and Islamabad, following the spike in violence in the Kashmir Valley after the killing of BurhanWani, a commander of the HizbulMujahideen on July 8.
The Prime Minister’s strong remarks extended his stance during the informal meeting of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, where he highlighted that spread of terror groups “in South Asia and for that matter anywhere do not own banks and factories”. “Clearly someone funds and arms them and the BRICS must intensify its joint efforts not only to fight terror, but to coordinate actions to isolate those who are supporters and sponsors of terror.”
The “supply chains [of terrorism] and reach are global, [and] abuse of social media to remote radical ideology is a growing dimension of this threat”.
During his meeting on Monday with British Prime Minister, Theresa May; Modi said during an afternoon briefing that terrorism posed “the biggest threat and danger to the world and knows no boundaries”. He underscored the reality of being well aware of the dangers of terrorism in order to point out that the recent meeting of the India-UK Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism had been very useful. He also called for greater collaboration in the area of cyber security and intelligence sharing, the spokesperson observed.
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