India will be at forefront to ensure those supporting terror don't hamper collective path to recovery from Covid

United Nations, October 9

India will be at the forefront to ensure that those supporting terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation do not “waylay us on our collective path” to resilience and recovery from the Covid pandemic, the country’s envoy at the United Nations has said.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti, speaking at the UN General Assembly General Debate of the Second Committee on ‘Crisis, Resilience and Recovery – Accelerating Progress towards the 2030 Agenda’ on Friday said that forces “inimical to us” are posing challenges as the world grapples with the challenges of the pandemic and climate change.

“We meet at a time when the Covid crisis is nowhere near the end. However, with the introduction of vaccines, there is hope that we will finally be able to turn the corner…The message to the world is for the international community to come together to combat the pandemic and build a resilient system that will drive our recovery,” he said.

“Terrorism, hate, radicalisation and extremism, infodemic and challenges to pluralism, human rights and democracy have only increased.

“We can never truly put our countries on the path to recovery unless we combat these wholeheartedly and purposefully and call out those who seek to justify these acts,” Tirumurti said.

Without naming any country, he underlined that “India will be at the forefront to ensure those supporting terrorism, violent extremism, radicalisation among others do not waylay us on our collective path to resilience and recovery.”

The United States, India and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terror groups like the Taliban, the Haqqani network, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). PTI