PM Modi urges world community to act in unison against terrorism

Reiterating India's position on terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged the world community to speak in one voice and act in unison against terrorism.

"Terrorism is one major global challenge and a force larger than individual groups. We must de-link terrorism from religion and assert the human value that defines every faith," said Prime Minister Modi while delivering the 37th Singapore Lecture in the presence of his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

"The world must speak in one voice and countries must be held accountable for sanctuaries and support. It is just does not a toll of lives but can derail economies. The world must speak in one voice and act in unison," he added.

He also insisted that India will lend its strength to keep the seas safe, secure and free for the benefit of all.

Prime Minister Modi, earlier in Malaysia, had condemned the recent string of terror attacks across the globe, and said it was a dark shadow that is spreading fast and called for a new global resolve to combat terrorism.

Addressing the 10th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, he had stressed that new strategies needed to be formulated on a global scale without balancing it against political considerations, to combat the menace of terrorism.

Earlier, during his visit to the United Kingdom, he called for targeted economic sanctions to choke funding of terror groups in order to stop attacks like the one in Paris.

"The dastardly acts committed in Paris are a grim reminder that terrorists have acquired remarkable capability and adaptability in meeting their funding requirements. They derive funding from a variety of criminal activities which includes smuggling of narcotics, bank robberies, data theft, fake currency and state-sponsored funding in failed states. Disrupting such fund flows constrains the capability of terrorists," he said at the Sixth Global Focal Point Conference on Asset Recovery.