Russia tacitly calls upon Pak to stop harbouring ultras

Russia on Friday joined India to tacitly call upon Pakistan to stop providing sanctuaries to terrorists carrying out attacks in its western and eastern neighbourhood.

Without directly referring to Pakistan, a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for early resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan and stressed on denial of “external safe havens and sanctuaries” for the terrorists.

They supported the Afghan government’s efforts towards the realisation of an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned national peace and reconciliation process. They also drew the attention of the international community to the worsening problem of narcotics in Afghanistan.

Modi and Putin also called upon the international community to join in efforts to thwart “any external interference” in Afghanistan, to restore its economy, contribute to sustaining peace and security, economic and political development of a stable, secure, united, prosperous and independent Afghanistan. They also agreed to launch joint development and capacity building projects in Afghanistan.

Putin also shared his views on the situation in Syria.

The two leaders reaffirmed the commitment of India and Russia for a political resolution of the conflict in Syria, through an inclusive Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process which safeguards the state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the country.

The two sides called upon all stakeholders to actively engage in building a peaceful, stable and sovereign Syrian nation and support the intra-Syrian dialogue without preconditions or external interference. The two sides called for enhancing efforts to provide necessary humanitarian assistance to bring the long drawn suffering of the Syrian people to an end soon, bearing in mind urgent reconstruction needs and the return of refugees and internally displaced persons.