New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) Reiterating India’s stance on terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday that international community must call out nations who support terrorism and promote cross-border terrorism.

“How we look at cross-border terrorism, on that, I need not repeat cross-border terrorism is a threat which the whole world must come together and combat. We must call out countries who are supportive of terrorism and who are promoting cross-border terrorism from their territories,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday while responding to a question on National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval’s remarks on terrorism during his ongoing Moscow visit.

On Thursday, NSA Ajit Doval stated that there cannot be any double standards in the fight against terrorism and responsible nations have to evaluate their choices in deciding whether they support sponsors of terrorism or counter them with decisive action.

He made these remarks during the first International Security Forum and the 14th Meeting of High Representatives for Security Matters in Moscow.

NSA Doval also called for special attention to the situation in West Asia, asserting that it is essential to ensure the safe and uninterrupted movement of trade through international waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

“The meeting was hosted by Mr. Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The forum deliberated on the ‘Challenges and Threats to International Security in the context of the Emergence of the Multipolar World’. NSA stated that there cannot be double standards in the fight against terrorism. Responsible nations have to evaluate their choices and decide whether they support sponsors of terrorism or counter them with decisive action,” the Indian Embassy in Russia posted on X.

“NSA also highlighted the urgent need for reforms in the structures and institutions set up after the end of the Second World War in 1945 to make them effective in dealing with contemporary international security threats; the reforms must give greater representation to and factor in the views of the Global South. Calling for special attention to the situation in West Asia, he said that it is essential to ensure the safe and uninterrupted movement of trade through international waterways including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea,” it added.

On Tuesday, India warned Pakistan of New Delhi’s resolve to defend itself against cross-border terrorism, saying Islamabad would have to face the repercussions of sponsoring terrorism.

“Pakistan must credibly and irrevocably end its support for all forms of terrorism”, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish demanded on Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council.

“Pakistan will have to accept that there are consequences to its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism”, he said.

He declared, “India has every right to defend itself from such cross-border terrorism”.

Harish was responding to Pakistan Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad’s off-topic diatribe against India during the Council debate on “Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and Strengthening the UN-Centred International System”.

Harish took a swipe against Ahmad’s claims of upholding the UN Charter.

“The use of cross-border terrorism by Pakistan and its doctrine of bleeding India by 1,000 cuts exposes its hollow rhetoric and the rhetoric of commitment to the UN Charter”, he said.

“Pakistan’s harnessing of the malevolent forces of terrorism, religious extremism, violent radicalism, and anti-India rhetoric has continued unabated since its creation”, Harish said.

–IANS

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