Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, deeply appreciative of Bangladesh’s role in fighting terror, has poked the US hard for ‘double standards’ on terrorism.
Addressing the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington Monday night, Modi said: “Many important countries in the world do not understand the dynamics of terror and often adopt double standards in interpreting it.”
He obviously meant the US, when he said: “When I met State Department officials in the early 1990s, they dismissed the serial explosions in Mumbai and other blatant terror acts sponsored by a neighbouring country (meaning Pakistan) as India’s law and order problem.
“I was given to feel all that was happening because India could not manage its law and order. They were blind to foreign-sourced terror hitting India. All that changed after 9/11 when US itself was attacked by terrorists directly.”
Modi also attacked Pakistan without referring to it — and US often for looking the other way.
“Our neighbouring country has developed a strategy of using terrorists as an instrument of foreign policy. Now that has become a Frankenstein for them. But, while the US comes up with sanctions against countries which do not fall in line, they don’t do that with our neighbouring country when it exports terror. This is a huge double standard and Americans should understand it.”
And then came the knockout punch in response to a question — “Can you fight terror if you do not understand its nature fully? Don’t be selective. If someone bombs your targets, he is a terrorist but if someone bombs my city, he is ok, especially if he is backed by your ally (Pakistan). This can’t go on and you can’t fight terrorists if you adopt this kind of double standards.”
Modi fired the ‘double standard’ salvo, much like Sheikh Hasina had done earlier in the week, just before his dinner date with President Barack Obama.
Modi appreciated Hasina’s role in anti-terror campaign in private remarks after their maiden meeting in New York, according to a senior member of his delegation.
“Bangladesh is a model in how terrorism must be fought. Hasinaji (PM Sheikh Hasina) has displayed huge determination in fighting all kinds of terrorism and she has taken huge risks in doing that with her limited resources” Modi told members of his entourage after the 45-minute meeting with the Bangladesh prime minister on Saturday night.
Modi said he was aware that Hasina was even putting her life in danger in her ‘single-minded fight’ against terrorism.
Source: Bd news24