SOURCE: LIVE MINT
India and the world are facing challenge from those who support terrorism openly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday according to a news report, in an apparent reference to Pakistan and some other countries.
Modi said this while addressing an event in Gujarat on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. “Today all countries of the world need to unite against terrorism. No one can benefit from terrorism and violence. India has always fought against terrorism,” Modi said in his remarks, according to news agency ANI.
The prime minister’s comments follow Pakistan and its ally Turkey slamming French president Emmanuel Macron for his remarks condemning the beheading of a French teacher by his student days after he had reportedly shown caricatures of Prophet Mohammed in his class. Macron had reportedly called for support for the freedom of speech and for upholding of the French national identity over religious identities. He drew flak from Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammed also made some controversial remarks on Twitter that the social media platform later deleted after outrage over the comments that seemingly called for attacks against France and were deemed incendiary.
New Delhi earlier this week had issued a statement in support of Macron, while Modi condemned the knife attacks in France in which several people were killed.
Indian foreign secretary Harsh Shringla who concluded a visit to France on Friday, in the first leg of a three-nation European tour that will also take him to Britain and Germany, discussed the issues of terrorism and radicalisation with his French interlocutors.
“Terrorism and the radicalism that gives rise to it are the most chilling form of censorship,” a person familiar with Shringla’s interactions said late Friday.
“They threaten our cherished democratic freedoms and our shared republican ideals. The events of the past week in Paris and Nice have been horrific. India stands by France,” the person cited above said.
“We cannot pretend such actions come from simply lone-wolf initiatives and misguided individuals. There is an infrastructure of radicalism, including its online manifestations, that comes into play. It has the backing of states and organised institutions. You know who they are. We cannot and should not postpone a coordinated and definitive response,” the person added.
