India, UAE anti-terror talk signal to Islamabad

NEW DELHI: India and UAE have taken a big step towards combating terrorism and rejected use of terror as an instrument of state policy, in what may be construed as strategic shift in Abu Dhabi’s policy towards crossborder terror in South Asia.

Expanding security cooperation besides boosting economic partnership was the key agenda of PM Modi’s UAE visit, first by an Indian PM to the nation that hosts 2.6 million NRIs since 1981. The PM held extensive dialogue with UAE leadership on Monday following which the two sides rejected any link between religion and terrorism.

“The two nations reject extremism and any link between religion and terrorism. They condemn efforts, including by states, to use religion to justify, support and sponsor terrorism against other countries. They also deplore efforts by countries to give religious and sectarian colour to political issues and disputes, including in West and South Asia,” the joint statement issued after the talks said in no uncertain terms.

Aiming to attract $800 billion sovereign fund from the UAE, besides bigticket investments from there, Modi on Monday wooed top business leaders, claiming that India has the potential of drawing $1-trillion investments and even said that he will send commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman to sort out problems being faced by some UAE investors.

Modi also promised to erase the deficit of prime ministerial interactions of the past 34 years. He said that though there are 700 flights between India and the UAE, it took 34 years for an Indian PM to visit.