'No rhetoric... can ever cover up blood stains' - India’s S. Jaishankar addresses UNGA
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
India stated before the UN General Assembly on Saturday, September 24, that it stands "firmly on the side of peace" in the war in Ukraine.
India and Russia have supported each other on defence and in commercial matters for many years. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February, India has increased its purchases of coal and oil from Russia.
India has not expressly criticised Russia's actions, but last week, in his most forceful public statement on the subject that was applauded by the United States, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned Russian President Vladimir Putin that this cannot be an era of war.
"We are on the side that calls for dialogue and diplomacy as the only way out,"India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at the United Nations. "We are on the side of those struggling to make ends meet, even as they stare at escalating costs of food, fuel and fertilizers. It is therefore in our collective interest to work constructively, both within the United Nations and outside, in finding an early resolution to this conflict."
On Wednesday (September 21), Putin proclaimed Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two and threatened to defend his nation with nuclear weapons.
India has been heavily dependent on Russia for military hardware for many years, and the US has been attempting to wean it off.
Since the battle, several American officials have travelled to India, offering it more defence gear in an effort to get it to cut ties with Moscow and limit its reliance on Russian energy imports.
In his speech to the organisation, Jaishankar also mentioned the tensions between India, Pakistan, and China while stating that India has "zero tolerance" for terrorism because it had "bearing the brunt of cross-border terrorism for decades."
Last Friday, Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping posed for group photos for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security organisation (September 16). The presidents hadn't been spotted together since the deadly border battles between the Asian foes in 2020.
The incident occurred after more than two years of a stalemate between Indian and Chinese soldiers at a disputed location along a remote western Himalayan frontier. Since the start of the impasse, Modi and Xi have not communicated.
"There is no justification for any act of terrorism, regardless of motivation," Jaishankar said. "And no rhetoric, however sanctimonious, can ever cover up blood stains. The United Nations responds to terrorism by sanctioning its perpetrators. Those who politicize the UNSC 1267 Sanctions regime, sometimes to the extent of defending proclaimed terrorists, do so at their own peril. Believe me, they advance neither their own interests nor indeed their reputation."
(With inputs from agencies)
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