Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Modi raises his voice against terrorism at G-20 summit' that was published in Newsband

Modi raises his voice against terrorism at G-20 summit

The terrorist attacks in Paris have united the World against Islamic State (ISIS). In the G-20 summit in Antalya, there was a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who set aside their differences to speak about a common strategy to target ISIS. Earlier the two had been pitted on opposite sides, with Western-backed rebel groups and Russian-backed Syrian forces confronting one another.

ISIS had benefited when countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey were able to arm, support and supply fighters for anti-Assad rebel groups in Syria, support that eventually found its way to ISIS Now Europe, especially France and the U.K., as well as the U.S. hope that they would see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled.

It is here that India had its voice heard with Prime Minister Modi’s intervention at the G-20, where he proposed a 10-point strategy to “tackle terrorism together”. These include obvious actions on isolating sponsors of terrorism, monitoring cyberspace and financial activities, and cooperation and intelligence-sharing across the world. It also includes the demand for the UN to finally push through the comprehensive convention on international terrorism (CCIT), that India proposed in 1996 and has since demanded consistently, especially in the wake of 26/11.

It is usually the relatively young, intelligent and sensitive people, unable or unwilling to endure further subjugation, who are “exploited” to commit any acts of terrorism, however barbaric, which are justified as instruments of change for the “larger good”. It is foolish to identify terrorism with any religion, although frequently the terrorist master-minds find it convenient to “exploit religion” to enlist terrorist-volunteers. When the affected community retaliates against ALL on the basis of their “religion”, the cycle of terrorism accelerates and terrorists win. PM Modi is right to ask world leaders to de-link terrorism from religion.

ISIS has no legitimacy to wage a war against a civilised community in the name of ideological differences. This act of hot pursuit should be dealt with an iron fist but at the same time due consideration should be given to protect the lives of unarmed civilians living in Islamic state. Economic, financial and communication blockade may yield a better result than direct attacks in which innocent civilians, women and children become the victims. This will call for unstinting cooperation of all nations including those which have not become the target of terrorism yet.

The terror attacks in Paris are not isolated. The lessons one can draw from the Paris attack is that terror can infiltrate even the most advanced societies with the most sophisticated surveillance systems, and that security is no longer a matter of the police on guard duty along the streets and borders points; it is everyone’s responsibility. Nations have the duty to act together to fight terrorism by all legal means. Human beings who love dignity, equality, liberty, open and secular societies should not be cowed into surrendering to the murderous ideology of terror being carried out by individuals who profess a religion that is basically non-violent.

It is great that all the world leaders have awakened and seriously taken these terrorist attacks. The initiation and role played by Modi in these G-20 summit is really appreciated. We hope countries which support these terrorists would change in near future by the measures taken by our global leaders.