Terrorism against humanity…a divided world cannot find solution to it, says PM Modi

“The world today is dealing with crises due to conflicts and confrontation; and no one stands to gain from this. A divided world can’t find solutions to the challenges facing humanity (conflicts and confrontation se aaj duniya sankaton se jhoojh rahi hai, yeh kisi ke bhi hit mein nahi hai. Maanavta ke saamne jo badi chunautiyaan hai, unka samadhaan ek banti huyi duniya nahi de sakti),” PM Modi said.

Echoing his ‘not an era of war’ comment made last year in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, the PM said, “This is the time for peace and brotherhood, to move forward together for universal progress and well-being. We have to tackle the trust deficit in the world and move towards a human-led thought process.” In this regard, the Prime Minister also made a mention of India’s G20 theme of One Earth, One Family, One Future, exhorting the world to take collective decisions for greater impact.

“Duniya se jude faisle lene mein bhagidaari jitni adhik hogi, utna bada impact hoga,” he said, adding that India proposed the G20 membership for African Union with this objective. He also expressed happiness that all member-states and guest countries accepted India’s proposal. The President of the Pan African Parliament, Ashebir Woldegiorgis Gayo, is attending the P-20 event in India for the first time as a G20 member.

Post deliberations on Friday, the presiding officers of various parliaments and delegates were also taken to the new Parliament Building for a tour and a dinner hosted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at the Parliament complex. Referring to this earlier in the day, the Prime Minister also made a mention of the attack on the Indian Parliament 20 years ago.

“About 20 years ago, terrorists had also targeted our Parliament. And you will be shocked to know that Parliament was in session at that time. The terrorists had planned to take the MPs hostage and to kill them. Bharat has reached here today after dealing with many such terrorist incidents,” he said.

Terrorists from Pakistan-based outfits had attacked the Parliament on December 13, 2001, leaving several policemen and security personnel dead. “The world was now realising how big a challenge terrorism is. Terrorism anywhere, in whatever manifestation, is against humanity,” Modi added.

The PM further said it was disheartening that consensus has not been achieved so far on the definition of terrorism. He said even today the International Convention on Combating Terrorism is waiting for consensus in the United Nations, he said, adding, “The enemies of humanity are taking advantage of this attitude of the world.”

“Parliaments across the world would have to think how to work together to combat terrorism,” he noted.

Talking about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024, PM Modi said a billion people will cast their vote in the election, and also all P20 delegates will visit again next year to witness the polls. He said India has conducted 17 general elections and more than 300 state assembly polls so far and the 2019 general elections were the world’s biggest election.

He also mentioned how India is promoting participation of women in every sector with almost 50 per cent of the elected representatives in local self-government institutions being women. The recent law on granting one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will further enrich the country’s parliamentary tradition, he said. “India today is promoting women’s participation in every sector. The recent decision taken by our Parliament will further enrich our parliamentary tradition,” the prime minister added.

In his address, Inter-Parliamentary Union President Duarte Pacheco said that it was important to have more women in a participatory democracy. “Maybe if we have more women in the leadership of our countries, we will not have so many wars,” he remarked.