NEW DELHI - Pakistan has to come forward and shun support to terrorism for ensuring productive talks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, stressing that India alone cannot walk the path of peace.
Speaking at Raisina Dialogue in Delhi where he outlined India’s foreign policy, Modi took a strategic stand on China, considered Pakistan’s all-weather ally, and said ties between the two Asian giants have immense economic opportunities. “It is not unnatural for two large neighbouring countries to have differences,” he said.
Modi said India had never shied away from shouldering the responsibility for international peace, but accused Pakistan of failing in its fight against terrorism. “Our strong belief in delinking terrorism from religion and rejecting artificial distinction between good and bad terror are a global talking point now,” Modi said.
“Those in our neighbourhood who support violence, perpetrate hatred and export terror stand isolated and ignored,” he said.
Modi outlined his vision for peace with South Asian countries. He mentioned Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Maldives, among others, in the same breath, but left out Pakistan.
“My vision for our neighbourhood led me to invite leaders of all SAARC neighbours, including Pakistan, for my swearing-in,” he continued.
Growing military ambitions in the Asia-Pacific are creating security risks, Modi said in a coded message to China to exercise strategic restraint.
Although couched in diplomatic language and not mentioning China by name, Modi's remarks in a keynote foreign policy speech aligned New Delhi with US President-elect Donald Trump's intent to curb Beijing's regional clout.
"Rising ambition and rivalries are generally visible stress points," Modi told an audience of politicians and top military brass from 65 nations at a security conference in New Delhi. "The steady increase in military power, resources and wealth in the Asia-Pacific has raised the stakes of security."
Although many of the guests in New Delhi were former, rather than current prime ministers, they did include the top US naval commander in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris.
Modi, elected on a nationalist platform in 2014, called for a rules-based security architecture in the Asia-Pacific that is "open, transparent, balanced and inclusive, and promote(s) dialogue and predictable behaviour rooted in international norms and respect for sovereignty."
That reflects not only India's concerns about the South China Sea, but fears that Beijing is threading a "string of pearls" in the Indian Ocean theatre by building strategic ports in countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Djibouti on the eastern coast of Africa.
India has maritime interests in all directions that are "strategic and significant", said Modi, whose country is the world's fourth-largest oil importer and juts southward from the Eurasian landmass into the strategic shipping lane running from the Middle East to the rising economies of the Asia-Pacific.
"Primary responsibility for security in the Indian Ocean rests with those who live in this region," he said. "Respecting freedom of navigation and adhering to international norms are essential for peace and growth in the larger and interlinked marine geography of the Indo-Pacific."