Sunday 14 / September / 2025
On board special aircraft:The countries which promote terrorism are getting "segregated" and are not welcomed in the comity of nations, Vice President Hamid Ansari said on Tuesday, in a clear reference to Pakistan after attending a Summit of 21 countries in Jakarta.
Ansari, while returning home after attending the first summit of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) where a declaration against terrorism was adopted, said the meet had sent out a clear message that the menace has to be resisted with greater practical cooperation among the civilised countries. That will happen, he said during his interaction with the media persons who accompanied him on his two-day visit to the Indonesian capital.
"The resolution speaks for itself," Ansari said about the 'Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism'. "The view that anybody can get away by promoting terrorism is getting more and more sidelined. In a way they (countries promoting terrorism) are being segregated. The message is clear that any country which promotes terrorism consciously is not welcome in the comity of nations," Ansari said.
He said the declaration makes it clear that terror violence in a civilised world is "an undesirable thing" and "across the board it is felt that violence has to be resisted with greater cooperation, meaning practical cooperation between the governments."
Among various things, the declaration says that the leaders of 21 countries which share the Indian Ocean expressed "support for the effective implementation of all relevant United Nations resolutions and declarations on international terrorism... by the member countries and respect for international law and human rights while countering violent extremism."
On the IORA whose first summit he attended in Jakarta, the vice president said the Indian Ocean region was one area of the world where a large community of littoral states had not focused on collective efforts. He noted that the other two such large regions - the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean - had already taken shape earlier.
"There is identification of areas of interest as to what should be promoted and what should be desisted from. I think, in the coming years, you will see more activities. Some of the initiatives we took today will take shape," he said.
On India's proposal to establish 'IORA Centre of Excellence' in one of its coastal cities, Ansari said, "we have the kind of expertise and willingness to create such a centre which will be an online exercise and anybody can see it and anybody can give inputs. Hope it will be of interest, not only to the researchers, but also to the governments."
