NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that terrorist attacks anywhere in the world should be considered as an act of terrorism — "not more or less" or "good or bad".

During his address at the leaders' dialogue on strategic responses to terrorist and violent extremist narratives, held on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly session on Monday, PM Modi called for institutionalisation of counterterrorism cooperation at the multilateral level and asserted that India will work towards enhancing ongoing cooperation and capacity building of friendly countries in this area.

"The Prime Minister said that terrorists should not be allowed to get funds and arms, for this objective to be realised," secretary (west) in the ministry of external affairs A Gitesh Sarma told reporters here after the meeting.

A terrorist attack anywhere in the world "should be considered terrorism — not good or bad terrorism. Not more or less", the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi also asserted the need to avoid politicisation of mechanisms like UN sanction listings and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and said that these mechanisms need to be enforced.

The PM's comment to avoid politicisation of mechanisms like UN sanction listings was directed at China — even though he did not name it — because it had opposed for about a decade the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council. Under international pressure, China dropped its veto over Masood Azhar in May.

Sharing India's experiences, PM Modi said that democratic values, diversity and inclusive development were the most important weapons against ideologies that promote terror, extremism and radicalism.

