New Delhi, May 19: President A P J Abdul Kalam today said recent events had reinforced the urgent need for restructuring of the UN Security Council so that it can play a vital role in reducing tensions by running on the principles of non-discrimination, consensus and transparency. "India has a role to play in working towards a safer, saner and a more equitable world based on cooperation and interdependence," he said in his banquet speech in honour of visiting president of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh.
Asserting that India stood irrevocably committed to peaceful co-existence, non-alignment and international cooperation, Kalam said "we stand committed to a UN that stands committed to a positive role - a role that of preservation of peace, independence, equality, equity, fair play and justice for all nations irrespective of their size and power".
The President said terrorism posed the biggest threat to peace and stability in the world. "Djibouti is playing an important role by contributing to the international efforts to overcome this menace by offering its facilities. India continues to be a serious victim of cross-border terrorism for more than two-and-a-half decades now.
"Terrorism is crime and crime has no logic and anything illogical has no right to exist," he said adding that India condemns all acts of terrorism wherever they occur, by whomsoever and in whatever form. "Our cooperation assumes an added dimension here," he said.
Bureau Report