Indian FM addresses Islamic bloc summit

In order to save humanity, states sheltering and funding terrorists should be urged to eliminate the terror groups, said India’s external affairs minister on Friday.

“If we want to save humanity, we must tell the states, who provide shelter and funding to terrorists, to dismantle the infrastructure of the terror camps and stop providing funding and shelter to the terror organisations based in that country,” Sushma Swaraj told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Swaraj attended the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC as the Guest of Honour at the invitation of the UAE.

Her remarks came amid escalated tensions between her country and Pakistan following a suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir on February 14 that left more than 40 Indian troops dead.

The attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based militant group that Islamabad banned in 2002.

Terrorism and extremism had different names and labels, Swaraj said.

The fight against terrorism could not be “a confrontation against any religion,” she said. “Terrorism in each case is driven by distortion of religion.”

In an earlier statement, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he would not attend the meeting, but a lower-level delegation would represent the country.

He pointed out that the decision was taken after the UAE did not retract its invitation to India despite strong the objection of Pakistan.

Pakistan and India engaged in an aerial dogfight on Wednesday along the disputed border with Kashmir, the first in decades, where they claimed to have shot down each other's fighter jets.