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Journalism of Courage
In a clear signal to Pakistan and its support to Kashmir jehadi groups,India and Russia agreed for the first time that terrorist attacks perpetrated under misleading slogans amounted to undermining the territorial integrity of our nations.
The joint statement went on to elaborate that in multi-ethnic and democratic societies like India and Russia,such activities are in reality attacks on freedom and democratic values,and they may have international linkages extending across and beyond the borders.
This description is then linked to the standard Indo-Russian formulation that states which provide aid,abetment and shelter to terrorist activities are themselves as guilty as the actual perpetrators of terrorism. While this formulation had been agreed to last year,sources said,the extension of this to include the term misleading slogans was,in fact,a reference to Pakistans aggressive statements on self-determination for the Kashmiri people.
It is reliably learnt that this portion of the joint statement was proposed by New Delhi and found acceptance with the Russians as a similar argument is made out by Chechen rebels. To emphasise this,the statement specifically mentioned the Mumbai terror attack and the 2004 Beslan school terrorist attack as incidents that can never be justified under any ideology.
The joint statement has a detailed portion on the Asia-Pacific. And while there are no specific concerns expressed towards Chinas aggressive posture in the region,the two sides did find common ground on broad principles that should govern security cooperation in the region. Russia,keen on a more cooperative balance between itself,India,and China,did push for closer cooperation among the three countries as both sides agreed on continuing consultations on regional security at levels of high representatives like the National Security Advisor.
