NAM Summit: Venkaiah Naidu calls Pakistan an 'epicentre of terrorism'

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday lashed out at Pakistan, calling it the 'contemporary epicentre' of terrorism at the 18th summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Azerbaijan. He also said that the country needs to relinquish terrorism for its own prosperity. The Vice President also slammed Pakistan President Arif Alvi for misusing the forum to justify cross border terrorism and said that the goal of this summit was to meet developmental goals and aspirations. 

READ | Jaishankar Meets Counterparts From Kuwait, Bahrain During NAM Summit

Naidu hits out at Arif Alvi

Vice President Naidu while addressing the NAM summit on Saturday said, "When we talk about terrorism, our thoughts naturally go towards its contemporary epicentre — Pakistan. We regret that the forum instead of being focused on meeting our developmental goals and aspirations was misused to justify once again its long-standing policy of conducting cross border terrorism against its neighbours including Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India."

While taking a dig at the Pakistani President Arif Alvi for misusing the forum to justify the country's cross border terrorism, Naidu said, "Pakistan needs to do much more to earn the confidence of international community and put a stop on terrorism for its own good, its neighbours and for the good of the world."

"While terrorism continues to expand its tentacles, the only way we can fight it is to strengthen and implement all the existing laws to combat terrorism and perish, terrorists," he added. The Vice President also urged all NAM countries to come together to form a common terror front against terrorism in all forms as there is no justification for extremist ideologies and terrorist actions. 

READ | EAM Jaishankar Meets Kenyan Deputy Foreign Minister At 18th NAM Summit

18th NAM summit

The 18th summit of NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan on Friday, bringing together leaders from different countries. The summit was inaugurated by Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev, who called for the strengthening cooperation among the 120 member nations. The 18th session of the NAM summit was attended by world leaders such as Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Indian Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Djibouti President Ismail Omar, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo- Addo alongside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed. The theme of the summit was "Upholding Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world."

READ | India Seeks To Be A Leader In Climate Change Action: EAM Jaishankar

READ | VP Naidu Holds Discussion With Venezuelan President At NAM Summit

(With ANI Inputs)