‘It can’t be business as usual’ : The BRICS Summit saw a growing recognition that there cannot be business as usual when it comes to dealing with terrorism. There is a growing recognition that terror has become a truly global challenge.” — Sushma Swaraj,External Affairs Minister

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 18

India today again used the BRICS forum to hit out at Pakistan for state-sponsored terrorism.Addressing a BRICS forum today, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said there must be a “cost for those who support terrorists” and make a “false distinction between good and bad terrorists”.Her remarks were an obvious reference to Pakistan and her speech reflected a continuation of India’s policy of targeting Pakistan at the BRICS platform.But what should give India a cause to pause is the fact that among the BRICS grouping — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — two main countries Russia and China have refused to go along with India on this line. Sources in the government confirm that China was the main opposition to India’s attempts to include Pakistan-based terrorist groups in the Goa Declaration. While India was keen to have the names of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in the declaration, it was China that wanted a more general statement on terror. In the case of Russia, India expected some form of backing but to its surprise, Russia maintained silence on the Indian line against Pakistan.Even after the fiasco in Goa where both China and Russia made it clear that they were unwilling to go along with India on its anti-Pakistan tirade, the continuation of the policy by Swaraj today was a surprise.At a media forum in the capital, Swaraj said: “The BRICS Summit saw a growing recognition that there cannot be business as usual when it comes to dealing with terrorism. There is a growing recognition that terror has become a truly global challenge.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over the weekend, raised the issue of Pakistan terror repeatedly using the BRICS and later the BRICS-BIMSTEC Summits as international fora to highlight cross-border terrorism. That is a different story that there were few takers for India’s line.

Maya hits out at Parrikar over surgical strikes

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 18

BSP chief Mayawati today described Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar crediting the RSS teachings for the ‘surgical strikes’ as an insult to the Army.“The armymen had risked their lives to make a precise strike inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir terrorist camps causing heavy casualties while the Defence Minister gave the entire credit to the teachings of the RSS. This is not just wrong but an insult to the Army,” Mayawati said.She said first the credit for the attack was given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of the Army and not going a step further, it is being attributed to the teachings of the RSS.“The RSS is not an organisation acceptable to all as its agenda is to promote hatred and divisive forces. Calling itself a cultural organisation, it has always worked for a political agenda and now has many representatives in the BJP and its government,” she said.