“Drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that ‘his’ terrorist is not ‘my’ terrorist,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a dinner hosted for the visiting world leaders by President Barack Obama. While “the reach and supply chains” of terrorism are global, “genuine cooperation between nations is not”, he said.

“Terror has evolved,” Modi said, “Terrorists are using 21st century technology. But our responses are rooted in the past. They are globally networked, but the world reacts nationally. There is a need to upgrade the world’s basic response to terrorism. Without prevention and prosecution of the acts of terrorism there is no deterrence against nuclear terrorism.”

“Today’s terrorism uses extreme violence as theatre”, Modi said, a reference to Islamic State. “we are no longer looking for a man in a cave (a reference perhaps to Osama bin Laden), he added. Modi emphasised that “state actors working with nuclear traffickers and terrorists, present the greatest risk”, which was an unmistakably clear reference to Pakistan without naming.

“Of great importance to both of us is North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, which threatens the security and stability of the region. President Xi and I are both committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Obama said at the nuclear security summit.

“China and the US have a responsibility to work together,” Xi said in his comments  through an interpreter. As for their “disputes and disagreements,” the Chinese leader said the two sides could “seek active solutions through dialogue and consultation.”

Obama first met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Together, they warned that North Korea would face even tougher sanctions and more isolation if it provokes again with nuclear and missile tests.

By Premji