New Delhi: Myanmar’s Foreign Minister and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi today said terrorism in any form is “unacceptable”, but to lay down a principle that all surgical strikes are right would be like being on a “slippery slope”.
The Leader of the National League for Democracy said each instance of a surgical strike has to treated on “case to case basis”.
“We believe in non-violence and surgical strike also is a violent form of attack. All attacks are violent. So this puts all in quandry. How do we achieve the goals that Gandhi ji was convinced we could achieve through peaceful means in this age of terror and terrorism.
“Defence in any form, if its is defence on battle ground, it is a form of violence. And Gandhi ji had to face that moral problem himself. I think, we all to have face it along the way.
“I don’t think we should lay down our principles saying that all surgical strikes are acceptable. We have to look at these instances case by case, otherwise we will be on a slippery slope of deciding that all strikes are acceptable,” Suu Kyi told to a news channel.
She was responding to a question whether her country would support India’s move on surgical strike if there is any evidence of terrorism.
Last year the Indian army conducted an operation against militant groups along the border with Myanmar.
The operation was carried out after rebels ambushed an Army convoy in Chandel district of Manipur that killed 18 Army jawans.
“Terrorism in any form is unacceptable because we are not going to change the world by using terror. Terrorism is not something that we can in anyway tolerate or allow to grow,” she said.
When asked how can the world work to isolate Pakistan over terror, Suu Kyi said its not so much a country that one can isolate as terror itself.
“The belief in terror, the belief that terror will get you anywhere you want to go. That is what we need to isolate.
That is why I say that it is terror that we need to attack and isolate,” she said.
–PTI