Terror talks: PM slams ‘double standards’

With the snowballing Iraq crisis providing a perfect backdrop, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today cautioned the world community again...

With the snowballing Iraq crisis providing a perfect backdrop, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today cautioned the world community against the ‘‘real possibility’’ of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist outfits.

Delivering the inaugural address at an International Youth Conference on Terrorism organised by the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the Prime Minister said: ‘‘The international community has to be vigilant against the real possibility of chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass annihilation falling into the hands of terrorist organisations.’’ Delegates from over 50 countries are participating in the conference here.

Vajpayee said India has been the victim of terrorism for the past two decades ‘‘but it took September 11 to dramatically bring the global reach of terrorism into the collective consciousness of the world’’.

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Jehadi terrorism, he pointed out, has become the ‘‘principal form of terrorism’’ the world over. This ensures terrorists two advantages — popular legitimacy and fresh recruits.

Identifying India’s problem as the same as that of the rest of the world, Vajpayee ridiculed the ‘‘double standards’’ used to condemn terrorism in one place and condone it elsewhere.

‘‘Distinctions are sometimes drawn from different acts of terrorism. In some cases, we are told that it is not really terrorism but a freedom struggle. This is how our neighbour has been trying to justify its policy of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir… It is asserted that Osama bin Laden’s associates are freedom fighters when they act in one country and terrorists when they act elsewhere,’’ he said.

Vajpayee said such an argument only encourages Jehadi groups. ‘‘This would boomerang on all of us. Democratic, secular and multi-cultural societies are prime targets of terrorism. Terrorists exploit civil liberties, religious tolerance and cultural diversity in democratic countries to achieve their ends. It should be recognised that human rights of terrorists can’t override those of their victims,’’ he said.

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Speaking later, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha rejected Pakistan’s arguments, seeking to classify terrorism according to its ‘‘root causes’’.

He said terrorism has, in fact, ‘‘become an instrument of revenge’’. The links that terrorists have with criminal syndicates, narcotics dealers, arms smugglers and money-launderers have given a wider reach, he said.

Sinha emphasised that there was a need to address issues like poverty, territorial disputes and religious extremism on their own merits.

‘‘But to link it to the fight against terrorism would be undermining both the campaign against terrorism as well as the issues concerned,’’ he said.

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