india

Updated: Feb 22, 2019 16:15 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday touched upon cross-border terrorism and said that the time had come for all those who believe in humanity to join hands in the fight against terrorism.

PM Modi said that India’s endeavours towards peaceful development had been derailed too often by cross-border terrorism.

“While India has been the victim of cross-border terrorism for 40 years, all nations today face this grave threat which respects no borders. The time has come for all those who believe in humanity to join hands to completely eradicate terrorist networks and their financing supply channels and counter terrorist ideology and propaganda,” PM Modi said.

Calling for an end to terrorism, he said, “Only by doing so can we replace hate with harmony, destruction with development and transform the landscape of violence and vendetta into a postcard for peace.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was speaking at Seoul where he received the Seoul Peace Prize.

After receiving the award, the prime minister said that he would donate the $2,00,000 (Rs 1.30 crore) award money to the Namami Gange project, which he said was an effort to clean the Ganga which is not just a river, but is held sacred by all the people of India, and is also an economic lifeline to millions of people in India.

Recalling the history of the Seoul Peace Prize, the PM said that the award was established to mark the success and spirit of the 24th Summer Olympics held in 1988 in Seoul.

“India remembers the games very well because they ended on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, October 2,” he said.

He said that the Seoul Olympics were an important landmark and when the games ended, the world was going through numerous changes.

“The 1988 Olympics were held at a time of many changes in the world. The Iran-Iraq war had just ended. The Geneva Accord relating to the situation in Afghanistan had been signed earlier that year. The Cold War was ending and there was great hope that a new golden age will soon dawn,” he said.

Comparing the situation today with that of 1988, the PM said that the world is better in many aspects today.

“Global poverty has been steadily falling. Education and healthcare outcomes have been improving, and yet many daunting global challenges remain. Some are old, some are new,” he said.

Touching upon the topic of climate change, he said, “The first public warnings climate change were sounded and today it has become a big threat to human kind.”

Referring to the terror organisation Al Qaeda, he said that the radical organisation was formed a few weeks before the Seoul Olympics and went on to say that radicalisation and terrorism have become globalised and are the biggest threats to global peace and security.

He went on to list various flagship initiatives of the BJP government at the Centre such as Make in India, Skill India, Clean India, Digital India etc and said that the guiding spirit behind all these initiatives was a teaching of Mahatma Gandhi, which said, “Remember the face of the poorest and the weakest person that we have ever seen and ask ourselves if the step that we plan is going to be of any benefit to that person.”