Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

Even as leaders from more than 50 nations gather in Washington to address the growing challenge of nuclear terrorism and safety, the UStoday praised India’s role saying the country “has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible”.The world leaders will over the next two days discuss the challenges posed by non-state actors and terror outfits trying to acquire nuclear weapons, besides a host of other issues related to nuclear safety.Russia has chosen to boycott the summit while Pakistan chose to pull out citing the Lahore blasts and has instead sent a low-level representation to the summit. Initially, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was supposed to attend the event.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Washington today to attend the fourth and last edition of the Nuclear Suppliers Summit (NSS), is likely to meet US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit.National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Wednesday met US Secretary of State John Kerry. Both leaders discussed many global and regional issues.Speaking before his meeting with Kerry, Doval said India “shared many concerns, particularly about terrorism, cyber space and we’ll be working together on that”.“We hope that together we will be able to make it a better place to live and meet these challenges together, and in cooperation with other likeminded countries,” he said.Kerry said, “India has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible and it is particularly important right now at a time when we see in the region some choices being made that may accelerate possible arms construction, which we have serious questions about.” The reference to Pakistan did not go unnoticed by anyone.“We’ve raised them with various partners in the region. So, our hope is that this Nuclear Security Summit will contribute to everybody’s understanding about our global responsibilities and choices,” Kerry said.