State-sponsored terrorism biggest challenge: Deve Gowda

Terrorism is the biggest stumbling block to world peace, stability and progress and the magnitude of threat multiplies when it is state-sponsored, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda said on Saturday.

Addressing the Asia-Pacific Summit-2018 here, he said that India has been a victim of state-sponsored terrorism for a long time and emphasised that terrorism or terror groups should not be glorified.

The four-day summit, on the theme "Addressing Critical Challenges of Our Time: Independence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values", has been organised by the South Korea-based Universal Peace Federation and supported by the Government of Nepal.

The former prime minister said that terrorism is the biggest stumbling block in the world peace, stability and progress and the magnitude of threat multiplies when terrorism is state-sponsored.

"Terrorism has emerged as a biggest challenge in today's world, which does not makes any distinction between the borders, gender or religions," he said at the conference being attended by leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines.

"In the recent times, the world has become aware about the terrorism and steps have been taken in the recent times to break the network of terror-funding, but an international law on terrorism is to be made," Gowda said.

"There is need for an international to check spread of terrorism. A proposal to make a law against terrorism is yet to be passed in the United Nations, as the member states have failed to reach a consensus on the definition of terrorism," he added.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, addressing the summit, said he agrees with what former Indian prime minister has said that "there is no good or bad terrorism."