Respect rule of law while fighting terrorism: PM

Cambridge, Oct 11: Terming terrorism as a ''threat'' to the world's efforts to eradicate poverty, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said openness and the rule of law were the best weapons against the menace.

''I believe that terrorism can be defeated only by combating fundamentalism and promoting respect for diversity,'' Dr Singh said after receiving an honorary doctorate from the Cambridge University.

Conceding that open societies like India and Britian are more vulnerable to terrorism, he said countries should, however, not sway away from liberty and democracy.

''...we must fight terrorism without losing the openness or the rule of law that guarantees the freedom of the individual,'' he said in his 15-minute acceptance speech, avidly heard by Cambridge dons and students.

Invoking famous Britons John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell as well as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, he said India believed in enrichment of the human conditions through cultural inclusiveness and a ''confluence of civilizations''.

''The best efforts to eradicate poverty will be defeated if our societies and nations are threatened by the spectre of terrorism and extremism,'' he said.

He said Britain, the ''land of John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell'', has a unique role to play in fighting fundamentalism.

''India too has its own pluralistic traditions and openness to other cultures,'' Dr Singh, an alumnus of the Cambridge, said.

''We do not believe in a 'clash of civilizations','' the Prime Minister added.

Speaking up for democracy in global governance, Dr Singh said it was time after more than half-a-century to reform the Bretton Woods instititons and the UN Security Council with a larger say for the Third World.

''A more inclusive global process that carries the population of the world with it calls for a reform of these institutions, in which the developing world will have a greater voice,'' he said.

Not to do otherwise is to risk alienation and to render the global system ineffective, he warned while urging Britain, the Commonwealth and ''other great nations of the world'' to join forces in bringing about a ''reordered'' global system.

''As democracies we must also stand together in making governance across the world more democratic. As a democracy we aspire to a world in which global institutions are more democratic and more representative of all the peoples of the world,'' he said.

UNI

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