United Nations : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has underscored the need to combat terrorism in her multilateral meetings and sent a “very strong” signal to Pakistan to stop using it as an instrument of state policy, her spokesperson has said.
Swaraj, who is currently in New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly Session, held a series of multilateral meetings, including with leaders of BRICS, IBSA, SAARC and India-CELAC. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is a five-member grouping and IBSA (India, Brazil and South Asia) a three-member bloc, whereas ICELAC stands for Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
“In almost all the multilateral engagements which EAM (External Affairs Minister) had, a reference to the counter- terrorism has been a common thread in most of the press releases and statements. This is something which has come out very strongly,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told here on Thursday.
“EAM herself in her speech did come down heavily on terror groups operating with support system by other countries. It is basically a very strong signal to Pakistan to stop using terrorism as an instrument of state policy, stop giving sanctuaries to known terrorist outfits that are recognised by the United Nations,” Kumar said.
Swaraj also called for disruption of terrorist networks and terror financing, he said. In addition to attending the tri-lateral meeting, Swaraj also had meetings with her counterparts from Kyrgyzstan and Argentina. Late in the evening, she also attended a dinner hosted by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.
