New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the plenary session of the foreign ministers’ meet of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation states in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
In her speech Swaraj raised the issue of terrorism, she said that Terrorism and extremism bear different names and labels.
But in each case, it is driven by distortion of religion, and a misguided belief in its power to succeed. She reiterated India’s stand that fight against terror is not fight against any religion.
Further she said that this is not a clash of civilisations or cultures, but a contest of ideas and ideals. She also repeated Prime Minister Modi’s words that fight against terror is a struggle between the values of humanism and the forces of inhumanity and said that if the menace of the terror has to be tackled the terror infrastructure must be dismantled.
Swaraj presented a picture of the secular fabric of India and began the speech by saying that she stands as a representative of a land, that has been for ages a fountain of knowledge, a beacon of peace, a source of faiths and traditions, and home to religions from the world.
She said that she carries the greetings of 1.3 billion Indians, including more than 185 million Muslim brothers and sisters who are a microcosm of the diversity of India itself.
She quoted from the Holy Qu’ran, Guru Granth Sahib and Ancient Sanskrit texts to drive home the point in a unique yet very effective way.
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