India’s PM Modi calls Pakistan ‘mothership of terrorism’ at BRICS summit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi branded Pakistan a “mothership of terrorism” at a summit of the BRICS nations on Sunday, testing the cohesion of a group whose heavyweight member China is a close ally of its South Asian arch-rival.
Modi’s remarks to a meeting of leaders from the BRICS – which include Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa – escalated his diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan, which India accuses of sponsoring cross-border terrorism.
Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has escalated since a September 18 attack on an army base in Kashmir, near the disputed frontier with Pakistan, killed 19 Indian soldiers in the worst such assault in 14 years.
In our own region, terrorism poses a grave threat to peace, security and development. Tragically, the mothership of terrorism is a country in India’s neighbourhood
“In our own region, terrorism poses a grave threat to peace, security and development,” Modi said in his remarks to BRICS leaders who met at a resort hotel in the western state of Goa.
“Tragically, the mothership of terrorism is a country in India’s neighbourhood,” the 66-year-old prime minister said, without directly naming Pakistan, in a series of tweets issued by the foreign ministry.
No immediate reaction was available from Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Modi’s posturing overshadowed the gathering of leaders of a group originally set up to boost economic cooperation. It followed a productive bilateral summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Saturday that yielded billions of dollars in defence and energy deals.