External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Friday called terrorism a “perennial challenge” that needs to be tackled with a great deal of resolution and commitment.
In a speech on “India’s view of the world” at University College Dublin in Ireland, he said the bombing of the Air India aircraft Kanishka off the coast of Ireland in 1985 is a grim reminder of the perennial challenge of terrorism which needs to be dealt with a great deal of resolution and commitment.
Stressing that conflicts are violent and traumatic, he said, “I do want to make one broad observation about the state of the world, which is difficult to put it very mildly. For a variety of reasons, our attention is normally occupied by, say, conflicts. Conflicts are violent. They’re traumatic. It’s what you read about in the newspaper, you see on the TV, you look at the phones. But there is a lot that is happening that you do not necessarily read about. Even on conflicts, there are by one estimate about 60 conflicts going on in the world, probably two or three get on a newspaper or a TV.”
Mr Jaishankar also cited the UN assessment in terms of basic development indices. He said, “A year ago, the UN assessed that in terms of basic development indices, health, water, electricity, home, literacy, nutrition, we are about 17 per cent at the end of 4 years and what we should be achieving by the end of the decade. So, the state of the world is difficult, with more conflict, pandemic after-effects, extreme climate events, debt crisis, and countries falling behind in their development and basic needs. So, what is it we can do more individually, bilaterally through other institutions, I think these are probably issues that we should be working, talking about.”
He reiterated India’s stance that differences in this era “cannot and should not be settled on the battlefield”, He called it important to return to dialogue and diplomacy to find ways to settle conflicts.
“A particular word about conflicts because I think it is today a very dominating issue, where India is concerned, we have always taken the view that, you know, differences in this era cannot and should not be settled on the battlefield, that it is important to have dialogue and diplomacy to find ways of sitting down and talking, however difficult it is. It’s not that we have very specific descriptions here. Obviously the party, you know, the countries involved, the people involved have to do that, but again, as important voices of peace and as very responsible players, I think again India and Ireland would have thought processes in a very similar direction,” he said.