Important to strike at the root of terror financing, says PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at the third No Money for Terror conference on November 18, 2022.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has been facing the horrors of terror long before the world took serious note of it. Speaking at the third ‘No money for Terror’ conference, he said that over the decades terrorism in different names and firms has tried to hurt India.

“We lost thousands of precious lives, we have fought terrorism bravely. The delegates have a chance to interact with a country and people we have been firm in tackling terror. We consider that even a single attack is one too many, even a single life lost is one too many, so we will not rest till terrorism is uprooted,” he said.

Addressing the importance of the conference, Mr. Modi said that the meeting shouldn’t be seen merely as a gathering of Ministers, rather it deals with a subject that impacts entire humanity in the long term.

“Impact of terrorism is particularly hard on the poor and the local economy, be it tourism or trade, nobody likes an area that is constantly under threat. Due to this livelihood of people is taken away. That is why it is more important that we strike at the root of terror financing,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Modi further stated that in today’s world, there should be no need to remind the world of the dangers of terrorism. “There are still mistaken notions about terrorism in some circles, the intensity of reaction to different attacks , all terrorists attack deserve equal outrage and action,” he said.

Pointing to a more aggressive approach towards tackling terrorism by limiting terror financing, Mr. Modi said, “We cannot wait until terror comes to our homes, we must break the terrorist support networks and hit their finances. It is well known that terrorist organisations get money through several sources, certain countries support terrorism as part of their foreign policy, they offered financial political support to them, international organisations must not think that absence of war means peace, proxy wars are also dangerous and violent, there must be a cost imposed upon countries that support terrorism, organisations and individuals that try to create sympathy for terrorists must also be isolated, there cannot be ifs and buts, the world needs to unite over overt and covert support of terror.”

Talking about the cooperation among nations for tackling terrorism, the Prime Minister noted that different countries have different legal systems, thus a deeper understanding and cooperation between governments is required.

“We should jointly address the problem of radicalisation and extremism, anyone supporting radicalisation shall not be tolerated in any country,” he said.