Modi’s potshot at Pakistan in Brics summit: Global media laps it up

New Delhi: Here is what the international media is saying on the recently concluded Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Goa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “mothership of terrorism” remarks:

CNN’s Joshua Berlinger says, “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it’s time to stand up and act decisively against state sponsors of terror. The comments, made Sunday at the BRICS summit in the Indian city of Goa, were a not-so-implicit dig at Pakistan, which India accuses of using terrorist proxies to foment unrest in Kashmir.”

Brics as an economic grouping of newly industrialized countries “seems to be losing its relevance other than being a feel-good club, writes G. Pramod Kumar in The Huffington Post. Advising India not to push its anti-Pakistan strategy at the forum, he adds, “If the seventh summit at Ufa in Russia last year was about the much celebrated BRICS Bank (New Development Bank) and contingent reserve arrangement, all that we hear about the eight summit in Goa is geopolitics: terrorism, military cooperation with Russia and isolation of Pakistan. And it’s India that’s mostly talking.”

Pakistan’s Dawn newspapers highlighted the difference between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, “He (Modi) obliquely disputed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s apparent reluctance to pin the blame on Pakistan, but the Chinese leader responded by seeking political solutions to the hotspots… With the differences between India and China out in the open—against the backdrop of Delhi’s attempts to isolate Islamabad—the Goa declaration stopped short of mentioning the Uri attack.”

Astrid Prange earlier wrote in Deutsche Welle, “The honourable participants at the Goa summit have begun desperately searching for what they hold in common and are shocked to discover there is very little in common left.”

Liu Zhen writes in South China Morning Post, “China is still trying to breathe life into BRICS as a political club, even though the emerging market bloc is unlikely to survive as an investment concept.”

He further writes, “China’s persistence on the bloc, even though its economy is bigger than the four other members combined, reflects Beijing’s strategic positioning as a bellwether for developing countries instead of a new member in the rich club.”

Jim O’Neil, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, who coined the term Brics, writes in Bangkok Post, “The BRICS today, like in 2001, have a vital role to play in tackling the most pressing international challenges…the suggestion that the BRICS’ importance was overstated is naive.”