United Nations, Sep 25 (IANS) Presenting the case for ‘Operation Sindoor’ before G20 Foreign Ministers on Thursday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that those taking on terrorism are performing a service to the international community.
Describing terrorism as a threat to development and peace, he told a meeting of the Ministers here, “Given the extensive networking among terrorists, those who act against them on any front, actually render a larger service to the international community as a whole.”
Although, he did not directly mention Operation Sindoor carried out by India against terrorist enclaves inside Pakistan earlier this year, his target was clear.
“A persistent threat to development is that perennial disruptor of peace, terrorism,” he said.
“It is imperative that the world display neither tolerance nor accommodation to terrorist activities.”
India held the Presidency of the G20, the group of industrialised and emerging major economies, last year and handed over the charge to South Africa this year.
EAM Jaishankar criticised the double standards in imposing sanctions on countries supposedly to pressure Russia to end the Ukraine war, although again he did not name the US which hit India with punitive tariffs for buying Russian oil.
Because of the sanctions and restrictions, “apart from jeopardising supplies and logistics, access and cost themselves became pressure points on nations,” he said.
“Double standards are clearly in evidence,” he added.
“By threatening development, we cannot facilitate peace (and) making energy and other essentials more uncertain in an economically fragile situation helps no one,” he said.
Again without naming India or other countries, EAM Jaishankar suggested using those who can bridge both sides to the conflicts to find peace.
“In any conflict situation, there will be a few who have the ability to engage both sides,” he said.
“Such countries can be utilised by the international community, both to achieve peace and to maintain it thereafter.”
“So even as we attempt to address complex threats to peace, the value of encouraging a buy in from those supportive of such goals should be appreciated,” EAM Jaishankar added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking to both Presidents, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and urging a peaceful settlement of the conflict, saying it is not the “time for war”.
“The focus is on the relation between peace and development, but both have deteriorated in parallel affecting especially the Global South because of the rise in prices of energy, food and fertilisers,” EAM Jaishankar said.
“This was starkly demonstrated by ongoing conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and Gaza,” he said.
EAM Jaishankar added that it was imperative to reform the multilateral structure as the institutions, particularly the UN, have shown their limitations in facing the challenges of economic pressures and terrorism.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for rebuilding trust in international cooperation.
“Let us work together to reaffirm peace as the surest path to sustainable economic development, and multilateralism the anchor of a safer, fairer future for all,” he said.
–IANS
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