Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong call to the world to drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that “his” terrorist is not “my” terrorist.
“Terrorism is globally networked. But, we still act only nationally to counter this threat,” Modi said at a working dinner hosted by President Barack Obama Thursday night to kick off the two-day Nuclear Security Summit.
“Nuclear security must remain an abiding national priority and all states must completely abide by their international obligations,” Modi told the world leaders at the meeting in the shadow of Brussels and Lahore terror attacks.
“Without prevention and prosecution of acts of terrorism, there is no deterrence against nuclear terrorism,” he warned lamenting that while “the reach and supply chains of terrorism are global, genuine cooperation between nation states is not”.
Obama, who is hosting his fourth and last such summit to discuss how to prevent terrorists and other non state actors from gaining access to nuclear materials, was flanked by Modi to the right and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the left.
Modi, who has come to Washington after attending the India-EU summit in the Belgian capital, said: “Brussels shows us how real and immediate is the threat to nuclear security from terrorism. Terror has evolved. Terrorists are using 21st century technology. But our responses are rooted in the past.”
He asked the leaders to focus on three contemporary features of terrorism. “First, today’s terrorism uses extreme violence as theatre. Second, we are no longer looking for a man in a cave, but we are hunting for a terrorist in a city with a computer or a smart phone. Third, state actors working with nuclear traffickers and terrorists present the greatest risk.”
By putting the spotlight on nuclear security, Obama has done great service to global security, Modi said and “this legacy of President Obama must endure”.
Earlier, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post Thursday Obama said: “Of all the threats to global security and peace, the most dangerous is the proliferation and potential use of nuclear weapons.”
“We’re clear-eyed about hurdles ahead, but I believe we must never resign ourselves to the fatalism that spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable,” Obama wrote. AFP
