As the dust settled on the 8th edition of the annual BRICS Summit held in Goa this year, India yet again managed to put Pakistan in a spot, with the theme weighing heavy on terrorism. Mincing no words, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a united attack on the issue looming over the world, and predictably signed a handful of defence deals with Russia.
With the script of the two-day event written mostly by India, ‘Terrorism’ was what dominated the meet. India called on its partners to come together and act against terrorism, signed defence deals with Russia, and managed to soften Brazil’s stand regarding the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group. China however, dug in its heels, standing firm on its stance over Masood Azhar and India’s inclusion in the NSG.
Day one began with Modi targeting Pakistan calling it the “mothership” of terrorism. “In our own region, terrorism poses a grave threat to peace, security, and development. Tragically the mothership of terrorism is a country in India’s neighbourhood. Terror modules around the world are linked to this mothership. This country not just shelters terrorists, it nurtures a mindset. A mindset that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justified for political gains. It is a mindset that we strongly condemn. And against which we, as BRICS, need to stand and act together. BRICS must speak in one voice against this threat,” Modi said at the inaugural session. He added, “Criminality should be the only basis for punitive action against the individuals and organisations responsible for carrying out terrorist acts. Terrorist funding, their weapon supply, training and political support must be systematically cut off.”
While all the nations agreed on a common ground against the rising menace, obvious contradictions among the leaders seemed to have left a bad taste in the host country’s mouth. Sources say New Delhi remains miffed at China for blocking India’s attempts to include the names of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Toiba in the declaration, and more so with Russia for not showing enough interest to argue India’s case. The Goa declaration failed to state any Pakistan-based terrorist groups and did not mention “cross-border terrorism”, a code word for Pakistan-sponsored attacks. India takes a half-hearted satisfaction in calling upon all countries to “expedite” the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism “without further delay”.
The Goa declaration read, “To address the threat of chemical and biological terrorism, we support and emphasise the need for launching multilateral negotiations on an international convention for the supression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism, including at the conference on the disarmament. In this context, we welcome India’s offer to host a conference in 2018 aimed at strenghtening international resolve in facing the challenge of the WMD-terrorism nexus.”
Chinese premier Xi Jinping gave a 10-minute speech where he directly addressed the ongoing war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. In a veiled inclination towards Pakistan, he talked about the need to find a “political solution” to “regional hotspots”. “We need to confront global challenges together. We, BRICS countries, share a common future. We are not only a community of convergence interest, but take concerted actions and make progress together. It is imperative that we step up coordination and communication on major international issues and regional hotspots and act in concert to find political solution to hotspot issues and take on such global challenges like natural disasters, climate change, infectious diseases and terrorism,” Xi said.
On the sidelines of the summit, Modi held bilateral meets with the BRICS nations, and signed several MoUs – clinching major defence deals with Russia. India and Russia signed 16 agreements across different sectors, including procurement of the S-400 air defence system and construction of four Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) guided-missile stealth frigate in India. Another agreement signed promises to set up a joint venture to manufacture 200 Kamov 226T helicopters. Both the countries also signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up an investment fund of $1 billion.
The Indian PM additionally met with Chinese President Xi, and together, the two countries recognised terrorism as a “key issue”, said an Indian official. Beijing however, did not give any assurance on supporting New Delhi’s bid on a UN ban against Pakistan-based militant leader Masood Azhar.
BIMSTEC shines through
While the BRICS summit more or less failed India, BIMSTEC outcome document managed to strike a chord with the Indian authorities. Demanding action against states that provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, the document also stated there should be no glorification of terrorists as martyrs. The line came in reference to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif calling Hizbul militant Burhan Wani, a martyr.
The BIMSTEC Leaders’ Retreat 2016 Outcome Document read, “We strongly believe that our fight against terrorism should not only seek to disrupt and eliminate terrorists, terror organisations and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against States who encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues.
“We recognise the need for urgent measures to counter and prevent the spread of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation. We express our determination to take concrete measures to step up cooperation and coordination among our law enforcement, intelligence and security organisations,” said the document.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
