No one questioned India's surgical strikes on Pak: Modi

"When we talked about terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," Modi said, referring to the increasing number of deadly terrorist attacks around the globe.

Addressing the nearly 600 Indian-Americans at a reception organised for him in Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC, he said the Indian Army's surgical strikes against terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29 demonstrated that India can defend its sovereignty and ensure its security whenever required.

The surgical strikes were launched as a response to an attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on an Indian Army base in Kashmir's Uri in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives.

"When India carried out the surgical strikes, the world realised our strength and saw that while we exercise restraint, when the need arises, India can also show its strength and might in dealing with terror and protecting itself," he said to thunderous applause from the audience.

The prime minister said the world could have put India in the dock for launching the strikes. "But for the first time, not one nation in the world raised a single question, about India's major step to conduct the surgical strikes against terror camps on Pakistani soil."

"It is a different matter for those who had to suffer due to the surgical strikes," he said, taking a jibe at Pakistan.

India has been successful in convincing the world about the "face of terrorism" and that it was "destroying peace and normal life", Modi said ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump, who had reportedly offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue drawing sharp reactions from New Delhi.

India has maintained that the Kashmir issue between Islamabad and New Delhi should be resolved bilaterally, without the interference from any third party.

Modi had some choice barbs for China, which of late has appeared to overcome its differences with the Trump administration over trade disputes and North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Trump had previously called Beijing a "currency manipulator" and threatened to launch a trade war with the communist giant.

The prime minister said India does not believe in disturbing the global order to achieve its goals. "This is India's tradition and culture," he underlined, apparently referring to China's growing assertiveness in the resource- rich South China Sea, where Beijing has territorial disputes with its neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.