Union Minister Ramdas Athawale applauds PM Modi for highlighting Pahalgam terror attack at BRICS Summit

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale. File Pic

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday commended Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for highlighting the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, which disrupted peace in Kashmir, at the BRICS summit. During the summit, all member nations collectively condemned the incident.

In a statement to ANI, he stated, "...Pakistan Army and the government did orchestrate the Pahalgam attack and disrupted the peace that existed in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370... Prime Minister Modi raised this issue at BRICS, where it was condemned unanimously by all participating countries," reported news agency ANI.

In addition to addressing the Pahalgam attack and the collective condemnation by BRICS, he also responded to political criticisms from Team Uddhav directed at Raj Thackeray regarding his prior meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"I think Raj Thackeray is a well-known leader of Maharashtra, and he formed a new party after separating himself from Balasaheb Thackeray. He also supported PM Modi... It's not good to object to the meeting. Being a home minister, anybody can meet Amit Shah, and this is what democracy is", Athawale said, reported news agency ANI.

The remarks came a day after the public reunion of the Thackeray brothers.

Earlier, on Monday, PM Modi, while addressing the session on 'Peace and Security and Reform of Global Governance', at the 17th BRICS Summit in Brazil, condemned terrorism as a "grave threat to humanity", underlining the need for urgent reforms in global institutions and highlighting India's commitment to the Global South, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

MEA Secretary (Economic Relations) Dammu Ravi, during a special media briefing on Sunday (local time), said the Prime Minister's remarks came in the context of discussions on peace, security and multilateral reforms. PM Modi also welcomed the united condemnation by BRICS members of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam.

"On the session on Peace and Security, Honourable Prime Minister underlined that terrorism was a grave threat facing humanity. In this context, he noted that all the leaders have condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack in the strongest terms. He underlined that the terror attack is an onslaught on all of humanity. He also noted that those funding, promoting and providing safe havens to terrorists must be dealt with in the harshest terms," Ravi said, reported news agency ANI.

(With AMI inputs)