India to actively cooperate with other nations to defeat terror forces: Prez

Team Udayavani, Jan 31, 2017, 3:35 PM IST

New Delhi: Noting that the country is facing the grave challenge of terrorism for the last four decades including cross-border attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, President Pranab Mukherjee today said India will actively cooperate with other nations to decisively defeat terrorist forces.

Mukherjee, in his address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget Session, said the government is committed to combating terrorism, ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice and referred to one of the government’s “decisive” steps of surgical strikes in September last.

He also mentioned that the government had decided to demonetise old currency notes to tackle the problem of terror financing among other security threats.

“India has been facing the grave challenge of terrorism for the last four decades. Terrorism poses a serious danger to the global community. India will actively collaborate with other nations in decisively defeating these forces.

“My government is committed to combating terrorism, and to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice,” the President said in his nearly hour-long address.

Noting that J&K has been affected by terrorism sponsored and supported from across the border, Mukherjee said the attempts of infiltration, incidents of terrorist violence and loss of precious lives of civilians and security personnel remain a cause of “grave concern”.

He also talked about Left Wing Extremism and said there has been considerable success in containing the menace over the last three years, with the surrender of over 2,600 extremists.

The security situation in the north eastern states has also shown significant improvement, he added.

Mukherjee asserted that the government has taken decisive steps to give a fitting reply to the repeated incursions on its territorial sovereignty.

“On 29th September 2016 our defence forces successfully conducted surgical strikes at several launch pads along the Line of Control to prevent infiltration by terrorists. We are proud of the exemplary courage and valour displayed by our defence personnel and owe a debt of the gratitude to them,” he said.

During his address, the President also noted that the government continues its active diplomacy aimed at facilitating national development, enhancing the country’s security and ensuring greater Indian influence in global fora.

The intensity of the country’s international engagements has helped shape a diverse and purposeful agenda with its global partners, he said, adding there has been a consolidation of relations with friendly countries and major powers.

“The common desire of the South Asian region for greater prosperity and development led most of its nations to make common cause in their opposition to terrorism,” he said.

He also referred to India’s Membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and signing of the Memorandum of Obligations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), saying they were further reflections of the country’s growing and multi-dimensional role in global affairs.

He also said India sent a strong message of its commitment to combat climate change with focus on climate justice and sustainable lifestyle when it ratified the Paris agreement on October 2, 2016.

Talking about multi-lateral events hosted by the government, Mukherjee mentioned the BRICS Summit at Goa with its BIMSTEC outreach, and the sixth Heart of Asia Conference at Amritsar and maintained that these meets marked important contributions to India’s regional and pluri-lateral outreach.

Underlining that the UN Environment Programme has recognised India as one of the countries on track in achieving its voluntary goals, the President said 25 nations have signed the Framework Agreement of International Solar Alliance, the first treaty-based organisation initiated by the government.

India hosted a three-day Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Delhi, in which more than 50 Asian and Pacific countries participated, Mukherjee said.

Appreciating the “invaluable contributions” made by over 30 million overseas Indians, he said the government will maximise the strengths of the Indian diaspora in nation building and for deepening the country’s global outreach.