Locals in city's Masson de Amorin area were taken for a surprise today after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar walked into a restaurant to enjoy the Sunday morning tea.
Taking out time from his busy schedule, Parrikar cast his vote for Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) polls here this morning and then walked into a roadside restaurant.
He was among early voters who had queued up for voting at the booth 12.
After voting, Parrikar stopped by a nearby restaurant even as the plain-clothed security personnel remained clueless about his move.
The crowd inside the restaurant was astonished to see the defence minister walking without any security in the restaurant, which is a common place for Christians in the city to have breakfast on Sunday after weekly mass at the Immaculate Conception Church.
"It was a surprise to see Defence minister walking in. But it is not much of a surprise for people of Panaji who know his simplicity. We felt good that despite being in such a high position he has still retained the low profile," said Zito Gomes, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church.
Earlier, speaking to reporters outside the booth, Parrikar said the BJP-led panel will win the election.
"For a smart city you need smart council and BJP will give it to the people," he said.
The polling for the civic body began at 8 AM and will end at 5 PM.
BJP has fielded its candidates in all the 30 wards who will face tough fight from nominees under the panel fielded by expelled Congress legislator Atanasio Monserratte. Congress nominees are also contesting from all the wards.
Parrikar said India will continue to push for shutting
down terror camps, imposing ban on all terror groups, prosecuting all terrorists under special law and making cross-border terror an extraditable offence under the CCIT.
"Terrorism is undoubtedly the single biggest threat to international peace and security. While the threat is transnational, response does not appear to be coordinated even though there is a broad consensus on what constitutes an act of terror," he said.
He said the arch of terrorism was expanding in Asia and there was a need for a regional approach to defeat terror.
Quoting a global report, he said record number of countries have been experiencing a high level of terrorism which surged by 6 per cent in 2016 over the preceding year.
Four groups--ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban and Al-Qaeda--were responsible for 74 per cent of all forms of terrorism, he added.
Referring to a UN report, he said ISIS affiliated groups carried out attacks in 29 countries in 2016 which is almost double in comparison to 2014.
He said some 60 million people have been impacted by conflict and violence.
Parrikar also emphasised on the need to combat "complicated webs of terror financing", noting that a holistic approach is needed to combat terror effectively.
He said it is also important to counter the misuse of the Internet through social media by terrorist entities.
"The global response to terrorism will be effective if there is a regional consensus on issues affecting the countries involved. The role of Asia here is central," he said.
"Afghanistan and India have been victims of this proxy war for decades now," Parrikar said.
Speaking at the conference, National Security Adviser of Afghanistan Hanif Atmar, in an oblique reference to Pakistan, said there is a need to end state sponsored terrorism.
"Despite international investment in countering it, terrorism is growing its capabilities and presence in our region," he said.
Atmar said Afghanistan considers terror outfits LeT and JeM as enemies and that Pakistan should never allow them sanctuary.
"We share the region with Pakistan which has the highest concentration of terrorists anywhere," he said.
The Afghan NSA said as it was difficult to designate any country as a state sponsoring terror, individuals sponsoring terrorism should be designated.
He said India is a very important partner for Afghanistan and compared its bilateral ties with that of its relationship with the US and the NATO.
