Harish delivered the keynote address on ‘Responding to Key Global Challenges: The India Way’ at an event at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
New York: The first issue in engaging with Pakistan is the cessation of terrorism, India’s envoy at the UN said, underlining that India has been a long-standing victim of cross-border and global terrorism and has zero tolerance towards the scourge.
“With Pakistan, the main issue we have is of terrorism,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said during a conversation here on Tuesday.
Harish delivered the keynote address on ‘Responding to Key Global Challenges: The India Way’ at an event at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
Responding to a question on Pakistan during an interactive session after the keynote address, Harish said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an effort to reach out and engage with Pakistan.
“Terrorist activities in India have eroded the trust. The first issue in engaging with Pakistan is the cessation of terrorism. That is a key issue.” The event was co-sponsored by the MPA programme in Global Leadership and the International Organisation and UN Studies programme (IO/UNS) and attended by students, faculty and policy experts.
In his address, Harish emphasised that terrorism is a big issue on the global stage.
“India has been a long-standing victim of cross-border and global terrorism,” he said as he described terrorism as an “existential threat” to humanity that knows no borders, no nationality and for which there can be no justification.
“Terrorism can only be combated through international collaboration,” he said.
On what is the ‘India Way’ in dealing with terrorism, Harish underlined that a “big focus” for the country has been on taking along its international partners to combat terrorism as he stressed that India has zero tolerance for the scourge.
