BRICS Must Stand United against Terrorism in West Asia and Gulf Countries, Says Modi

Addressing issues on International Governance and Regional Crisis at the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that BRICS nations together must help the Gulf region and West Asian countries to counter terrorism.

At the working session of the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, Modi pressed the need for "zero-tolerance towards terrorism," a government statement said.

Raising issues of terrorism in West Asia and Gulf countries, Modi brought up the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the ongoing Syrian civil war. He said that India would always be a step ahead in bringing peace in these nations as it is most vulnerable to the ongoing disturbances in the Gulf.

"West Asia poses a grave threat to regional, and global, peace and security and India is particularly concerned because this affects the lives of seven million Indian citizens, living in the Gulf region," the government statement cited him as saying.

Sharing opinions to counter terrorism, Modi suggested that the BRICS nations ought to "put collective pressure on states that flouts basic norms to deny sanctuaries and support to terrorists."

He put forth the sufferings of Afghan citizens and said that although India would always help Afghan to counter the military forces, the BRICS nations together "must help Afghanistan fight the forces of terrorism."

"India would continue to assist Afghanistan in building its capacity; in governance, security and economic development," he added.

Afghanistan is in a constant war since 1978 when it witnessed an uprising against its People's Democratic Party. The war remains to continue until today, with most of the Afghan fighting against the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda and trying to dethrone the Taliban, which has been a threat to people's life in the country; 89 people were killed in a recent bomb blast in Afghanistan.

Not only he expressed the need to counter disturbances in Afghanistan, he sought their attention towards the continuing Iraq conflict.

He raised the issue of the Iraq crisis, which is likely to affect the Indian economy, as it imports 25 million tonnes of oil from Iraq each year. The conflict in Iraq might affect oil industries. The crisis also threatened the lives of Indian nurses in Iraq who were held captive by the ISIS militants, however, they were later released and brought back to India safely. Modi has asked the BRICS nations to join hands and explore ways to address the Iraq conflict and end it.

Among the several major terror threats, Modi even raised his concern over cyber security. He said that the BRICS countries must initiate a measure to tackle cyber crime.

Pressing the need to counter all forms of terrorism globally, he said that the United Nations need to accept the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) treaty soon, according to the statement.

"Institutions like the UN Security Council and IMF need urgent reform – they must become more representative and reflect ground realities," Modi said.