India calls for ‘united action’ against terror
Two months after the Mumbai terrorist attack, India on Sunday urged
the international community to take decisive and united action against
the epi-centre of terrorism in the region.
“The international community must take decisive and united action
against terrorism, which poses a grave threat to the stability of the
world,” Indian President Pratibha Patil said in her address to the
nation on the eve of the Republic Day.
“No country can afford to take an ambivalent attitude in this fight,”
Patil said in her all-embracing speech that focused for the most on
terrorism and the need to safeguard the country against terrorists and
fundamentalists. “Arguments that terrorism is being perpetuated by
independent actors are self-defeating and cannot be accepted,” Patil
said.
“Countries must own up their responsibilities as must the
international community in defeating terrorism,” she said. “The
concerted and well-planned attacks in Mumbai stand out as an example of
a ruthless operation undertaken to damage the confidence of India. The
nation was outraged.
However, contrary to what the terrorists had hoped, the event saw the
emergence of a unified and strong voice from India.”
“The government has put in place a new agency to deal with terrorist
threats and has also brought in legislative changes. A determined,
coordinated and concerted approach by all agencies to tackle this menace
would be necessary,” she stressed.
She said the country needed technology which is one up on that used
by the terrorists, who were increasingly using sophisticated equipment
to carry out their agenda. “As the first woman president of India, there
is a natural empathy that I have for the women of our country.
I am conscious about the constraints and difficulties that they face
in realizing their full potential. Their empowerment is necessary and
that can only come through education and economic development. A woman
has a right to live with dignity and a right to be an equal citizen of
the country.”
- IANS |