MUMBAI, Saturday, (AFP) -US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid tribute to victims of last year's Mumbai attacks, calling for a global fight to combat the scourge of terror as she began a visit to India.
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| Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) embraces a member of the NGO Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) during a visit to their premises in Mumbai on Saturday. AFP |
Clinton, on her first trip to India as Washington's top diplomat, linked the attacks which left 166 people dead to those in the United States on September 11, 2001 and Friday's deadly hotel bombings in Jakarta.
“These events are seared in our collective memory,” she told a news conference at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, where she is staying and where 31 guests and staff lost their lives during the Islamist militant siege.
“Yesterday's bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia provide a painful reminder that the threat of such violent extremism is still very real. It's global, ruthless, it's nihilistic and it must be stopped.
“The United States will work with the Indian government, the Indonesian government and other nations and peoples to seek peace and security and confront and defeat these violent extremists.”In a private meeting, Clinton earlier met 13 members of staff from the Taj and the nearby Trident-Oberoi hotels, including Taj general manager Karambir Kang, whose wife and two sons died in the tragedy.
Despite losing his family, he continued to work and direct rescue operations.
Clinton said she was “deeply touched” to meet the employees and to pay her respects at the memorial to the victims at the landmark waterfront hotel.
“Both our people have experienced the senseless and searing effects of violent extremism,” she wrote in a condolence book.
“Now it is up to all nations and people who seek peace and progress to work together. Let us rid the world of hatred and extremism that produces such nihilistic violence. Our future deserves no less.”Counter-terrorism is one of a number of issues on Clinton's agenda, alongside tackling nuclear proliferation and climate change plus opening up trade and new markets.
Clinton on Indo-Pak ties
Clinton denied that President Barack Obama's administration was pressuring India into seeking peace with Pakistan so the latter could focus entirely on beating an Islamist insurgency on its border with Afghanistan, a US priority.
“The US... is very supportive of steps that the governments take but we are not in any way involved in or promoting any particular position,” she told the news conference. |
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