BEIJING: Despite India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts at the BRICS Summit to brand Pakistan as a ‘terrorist’ nation, Chinese President Xi Jinping blocked all such attempts to link Islamabad with terrorism.
“Pakistan and China are all-weather friends. Pakistan and India are both victims of terrorism. In combating terrorism, Pakistan has made great sacrifices. This needs to be recognised by the international community,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday at a press briefing when asked to respond to Indian prime minister’s comment at the weekend’s BRICS Summit.
“The international community needs to recognise Pakistan’s great sacrifices and that it was opposed to linking terrorism to any one country or religion,” she said. “We truly hope they can resolve these differences through dialogue and consultation,” the spokesperson said, while advising India to solve differences through peaceful means.
Pakistan already informed the world that India continued to sponsor state terrorism in Pakistan and the South Asian region. Recently, India’s serving navy commander was arrested who was involved with his network in fostering unrest in Pakistan.
On Sunday, leaders of China, India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa issued a joint declaration on a range of measures. They also agreed to work together to combat cross-border terrorism, but Modi’s guests held off from signing up to his fierce condemnation of Pakistan as the ‘mothership’ of ‘terrorism.’ At the summit, the BRICS leaders agreed to set up a new credit rating agency and expand the role of emerging economies, and recognised the threat from terrorism.
In separate agreements, President Xi vowed to pursue closer ties with India and Russia as part of a wider Chinese push to foster global trade partnerships. The Indian prime minister said that India and China had a responsibility to join hands and turn the 21st Century into an Asian century.
