* PM meets UN chief, refers to Sharif’s remarks
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27:
Rebuffing Pakistan for raising the Kashmir issue at the UN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted today that he was prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with it “without the shadow of terrorism” but asked it to create an “appropriate environment” for that.
Without making a direct reference to the strident speech of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif here yesterday in which he had insisted on a plebiscite in Kashmir, Modi made it clear that “raising issues in this forum is not the way to make progress towards resolving issues between our two countries”.
In his maiden address to the 193-member UN General Assembly, the Indian leader underlined that his Government placed the highest priority on advancing friendship and cooperation with its neighbours, including Pakistan.
Speaking in Hindi, Modi said, “I am prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism, to promote our friendship and cooperation.
“However, Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate environment,” he told the Assembly.
Modi’s 35-minute address covered a number of subjects such as terrorism, including its resurgence in West Asia, reforms of the United Nations, including the Security Council, and the need for a more inclusive global development.
Talking about India’s neighbourhood, the Prime Minister said that India desired a peaceful and stable environment for its development. “A nation’s destiny is linked to its neighbourhood. That is why my Government has placed the highest priority on advancing friendship and cooperation with her neighbours.”
He told Pakistan that instead of raising issues at the UN, “today we should be thinking about the victims of floods in Jammu and Kashmir. In India, we have organised massive flood relief operations and have also offered assistance for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”.
“India is part of the developing world, but we are prepared to share our modest resources with those countries that need this assistance as much as we do,” he said.
Describing the present as “a time of great flux and change”, Modi said the world was witnessing tensions and turmoil on a scale rarely seen in recent history. Although there were no major wars “there is absence of real peace and uncertainty about the future”.
He referred to the Asia-Pacific region and said that it was “still concerned about maritime security that is fundamental to its future.”
While “extremism and fault lines” were growing in West Asia, Modi said, “our own region continues to face the destabilising threat of terrorism”.
Modi told the General Assembly that terrorism was taking “new shape and new name” and no country, big or small was free from its threat.
He went on to ask, “are we really making concerted international efforts to fight these forces, or are we still hobbled by our politics, our division, our discrimination between two countries, distinction between good and bad terrorists?”
Without naming Pakistan, the Prime Minister said even today “states allow terrorist sanctuaries on their territory or use terrorism as instruments of their policy”.
In an apparent reference to the ongoing conflict in Iraq and Syria, where a US-led coalition is attacking the Islamic State (IS) militants, he said that India welcomed efforts to combat terrorism’s resurgence in West Asia which was affecting countries near and far.
He pointedly emphasised, “this effort should involve the support of all countries in the region”.
Pressing for a concerted international effort to combat terrorism and extremism, the Indian leader urged the world body to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
Calling for reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, whose membership India is aspiring for, Modi said the world body should be more democratic and participative.
“Institutions that reflect the imperatives of the 20th Century won’t be effective in the 21st. It would face the risk of irrelevance and we will face the risk of continuing turbulence with no one capable of addressing it,” he said.
“We must reform the United Nations, including the Security Council, and make it more democratic and participative,” Modi said while urging the international community for changes in the 15-membered body by next year; when the UN celebrates its 70th anniversary.
As the United Nations observes its 70th anniversary next year, of which India was a founding member, it is appropriate that the much needed reforms of the UN Security Council is carried out by 2015, Modi said.
Asserting that no one country or group of countries can determine the course of this world, Modi said there has to be a genuine international partnership. This is not just a moral position, but a practical reality, he added.
“We need a genuine dialogue and engagement between countries. I say this from the conviction of the philosophical tradition that I come from. Our efforts must begin here – in the United Nations,” he said. In particular the UN Security Council, he added.
Modi urged the international community to put aside their differences and mount a concerted international effort to combat terrorism and extremism. “As a symbol of this effort, I urge you to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism,” he said.
“We should ensure that there will be peace, stability and order in the outer space and cyber space. We should work together to ensure that all countries observe international rules and norms,” he added.
In his address, Modi said globalization has created new poles of growth; new industries; and new source of employment. At the same time, billions live on the edge of poverty and want; countries that are barely able to survive a global economic storm, he added.
“There has never been a time when it has seemed more possible than now to change this. Technology has made things possible; the cost of providing it has reduced. We no longer are totally dependent on bricks and mortars,” he said.
“If you think of the speed with which Facebook or Twitter has spread around the world, if you think of the speed with which cell phones have spread, then you must also believe that development and empowerment can spread with the same speed,” he said.
Each country must of course take its own national measures; each Government must fulfill its responsibility to support growth and development, he noted. “At the same time, we also require a genuine international partnership,” he added.
In an apparent reference to the dispute in the South China Sea, which is witnessing increasing flexing of muscles by China, Modi said that important areas of resources like sea are becoming issues of conflict.
“Today, the seas, space and cyber space which are common resources of prosperity have also become a new theatre of conflicts. The sea which used to bind us now from the same sea we are getting reports of conflicts. The space which used be an opportunity for our achievements. The cyber which used to connect us. Today, these important areas are appeared to be emerging as new areas of conflicts,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister’s remarks assume significance in the backdrop of dispute in natural resource-rich South China Sea, which is witnessing territorial disputes between China, the Philippines and Vietnam among others.
India has always pitched for the freedom of navigation in the high seas.
Modi also met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during which he referred to raising of the Kashmir issue by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif while implying that the global body was not the right forum to discuss it.
Modi’s reference to the issue in a meeting with the UN chief came a day after Sharif raked up the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly here.
Official sources said Modi referred to Sharif’s remarks on Kashmir in the meeting with the UN Secretary- General and implied that the UN was not the appropriate forum to raise it as it was a bilateral matter.
Meanwhile Modi went on a tour of key venues of the United Nations at its headquarters here including the Security Council chamber before delivering his maiden speech.
In the 15-minute tour, 64-year-old Modi visited the Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations, and the venue of the Surya statue gifted in 1982 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
She had gifted the 11th century statue to the United Nations during her visit there.
The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River.
The UN Headquarters complex was constructed in stages with the core complex completed between 1948 and 1952. The Headquarters occupies a site beside the East River on 17 acres of land.
After taking a round of the complex, Modi met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during which both the leaders discussed a number of issues including ways to combat terrorism and deal with other challenges.
Meanwhile, Indian-Americans from across the US hailed the maiden speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, with some saying that the speech reflects that India has arrived on the world stage with a strong voice.
“This is once in a life time opportunity. India has arrived on the world stage,” said Chandrakant Patel, president, Overseas Friends of BJP and chairman of the Indian American Community Foundation, which is organising a public reception for Modi at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
A large number of Indian-Americans were seen seated in the visitors’ gallery to watch Modi’s maiden speech.
The visitors’ gallery of the United Nations which is generally empty, that too on a Saturday, was more than half full, before Modi started delivering his speech.
Because of unprecedented security, not many people were able to come inside the UN to listen to his speech.
Simultaneously, several hundred people had gathered outside the United Nations with placards and banners ‘America Loves Modi’ to welcome Modi in the United States.
People in at least eight bus loads from New York and New Jersey left their homes early in the morning to attend the ‘Modi welcome rally’ outside the UN.
“After a long time, India has got such a leader. No one in the past has evoked such an excitement as has the Prime Minister,” said Satya Shaw, a successful entrepreneur, who flew in from Florida for the event.
“There were many people standing outside to come to the visitors’ gallery, but were not able to come due to security reasons,” said a disappointed Manish Kumar, who could not watch Modi speak from the visitor’s gallery.
“I watched it on my smart phone, through UN webcast,” he said: UN officials said there was quite unusual traffic on their UN webcast feed during the Modi speech.
“Naturally, the traffic was highest from India, but it was quite unusual from even countries like the US, Canada and Britain,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“We wanted to have a grand welcome to our Prime Minister. It is very unfortunate that a statesman like him was denied a US visa. He has a huge following here in the US,” said Narayan Kataria, of the Indian-American Intellectual Forum, which organised the welcome rally in front of the UN.
“The young and vibrant Indian voice of 1.2 billion Indians, enriched by a well-rooted democracy complete with loyal opposition, spoke today through Modi – India’s durable message of peace free of terror, and growth for all,” said eminent Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra. (PTI)
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