New Delhi: The BRICS Parliamentary Forum, which includes China and Iran, condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and resolved to fight terrorism together on Friday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who led the Indian parliamentary delegation to the forum meeting in Brasilia, made a strong case for cutting off financial assistance to terrorist organisations, sharing intelligence, preventing misuse of modern technologies, and cooperating in investigation and judicial processes.
“The joint declaration strongly condemned the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India, and it was agreed that the parliaments of all BRICS countries would work together united against terrorism,” a statement from the Lok Sabha Secretariat said. Terrorists shot dead 26 people, mostly tourists, in the April 22 attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
The attack drew strong retaliation from India, with its armed forces targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the intervening night of May 6 and 7.
The BRICS Parliamentary Forum meeting in Brasilia was attended by representatives from India, Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.
After several rounds of intense discussions and deliberations during the conference, a broad consensus was reached on key topics such as artificial intelligence, global trade and economy, inter-parliamentary cooperation, global peace and security.