AGENCY
United Nations: India, which lost about 87,000 soldiers fighting the Axis Powers, has warned the global community that terrorism was threatening to engulf the world in a carnage similar to that of the two World Wars and concerted efforts were needed to tackle the menace.
“Today, terrorism has emerged as one of the greatest threats to humankind. Terrorism is a global phenomenon and can only be defeated by global action. We need to ensure that we are not found wanting in our efforts,” India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Bhagwant Bishnoi said here yesterday.
Participating in a session in the UN General Assembly on the commemoration of the end of the Second World War, Bishnoi said the terrorism threatened to expand its reach and “engulf the world in carnage similar to what we witnessed during the two World Wars.”
He said despite the progress made in the 70 years since the second World War ended, war is far from being eliminated.
“While instances of war and armed conflict may have reduced over time, the actual impact on people has expanded,” he said citing estimates that mortality caused by conflict has increased from 1.6 million in the 16th century to nearly 110 million in the 20th century.
Bishnoi said the meeting presents a “useful opportunity” to underline the need to address “the structural deficiency in the architecture for global security”.
As a founding member of the UN, India remains fully committed to the purposes and principles of the world body.
“It is our hope that the organisation will take concrete steps, as it celebrates its 70th anniversary, to be ‘fit for purpose’ and reflective of contemporary realities,” Bishnoi said.
Highlighting India’s contribution during the Second World War, Bishnoi said that the Indian Army grew from 200,000 men to 2.5 million, the largest volunteer force ever raised in history.
The Indian Army suffered nearly 87,000 fatalities and over a hundred thousand injured during the Second World War.
Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance that was fought by the Allied forces, including the US and India’s colonial UK regime, during World War II.
The Indian diplomat said the international community also needs to take stock of the “health” of the institutions of global governance that were established in the wake of the second world war, which was “the most devastating and destructive global conflict in human history.”
He cited remarks made by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who had said at the world body on 4th May that most of the fundamental structures created after World War II by the victorious powers remain “unchanged”.
“For millennia in India, it has been the philosophy of upholding the values of good over evil that has guided the code of the warrior,” Bishnoi said.
“It is with this perspective that Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, supported Indian participation in the two World wars despite our then ongoing struggle against colonial rule,” he added. (PTI)
