NEW YORK – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at UN, yesterday urged the world to unite against terrorism but avoided mentioning the Kashmir issue, while his Pakistani counterpart accused India of planning bloodbath there.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Modi said terrorism is one of the biggest challenges before humanity.
“We believe that terrorism is not a challenge for any one country but for all countries and for humanity. For the sake of humanity, the world has to unite against terror,” Modi said.
“We belong to a country that has given the world Buddh (Buddha’s message of peace), not ‘Yuddh’ (war). When we raise our voice against terror, it is with seriousness and anger,” said Modi, who took the podium before Pakistan Prime minister Imran Khan.
Without naming Pakistan, Modi said there needed to be more anger globally about what terrorism was doing to humanity.
A divided world, the Indian PM said, was in nobody’s interest. “Neither do we have an option to restrict ourselves to our borders. Multilateralism is the essence, we need give a new direction,” he said.
In his 20-minute speech, he also spoke about India’s fight against global warming and its development initiatives.
“Per capita wise India’s contribution to global warming is very low, but we are a leading nation in mitigation plans,” Modi said in his address to world leaders at the UNGA in New York.
He announced his commitment to make the country single-use plastic free.
While Modi avoided mentioning Kashmir, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan took the world stage to highlight the issue.
He warned there would be a bloodbath when India lifts its curfew in disputed Kashmir and that any all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations would reverberate far beyond their borders.
“There are 900,000 troops there, they haven’t come to, as Narendra Modi says — for the prosperity of Kashmir… These 900,000 troops, what are they going to do? When they come out? There will be a bloodbath,” he said.
“If this goes wrong, you hope for the best but be prepared for the worst,” Khan said.
“If a conventional war starts between the two countries … anything could happen. But supposing a country seven times smaller than its neighbor is faced with the choice – either you surrender or you fight for your freedom till death?
“What will we do? I ask myself this question … and we will fight. … and when a nuclear-armed country fights to the end, it will have consequences far beyond the borders.”
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