No support for terrorism, terror activities in India: LS Speaker Birla

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday said he has conveyed to his counterparts from G20 nations that India does not support terrorism or terror activities in any form.

Birla was responding to questions on the bilateral meetings he had with Speakers of G20 nations during the Parliament 20 Summit that concluded here on Saturday.

"The position of the government is very clear in this regard. The prime minister has also said it in his statement. The government has made it clear that terrorism and terror activities have no place in India," the Lok Sabha speaker said while briefing reporters on the P20 Summit.

He was responding to a question on whether any Speaker from the G20 countries had raised the issue of presence of people in India who were pursuing separatist activities abroad.

"It is a clear government policy… terrorism, be it of caste or religion … terrorism is terrorism, and no form of terror will find any support in India. This is the clear government policy," Birla said.

On the P20 Summit, Birla said 436 delegates including presiding officers of 27 nations and 49 members of parliament participated in the two-day summit held at Yashobhoomi here.

He said this was the maximum attendance at any P20 Summit so far and a consensus on the joint statement was a key highlight of the deliberations.

India had hosted the ninth edition of the P20 Summit.

Birla said India also offered to set up an expert group on legislative drafting, an area where the Indian Parliament has considerable expertise and has organised training sessions for parliaments of several countries.

He said the success of the G-20 Leaders' Summit, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also reflected on the deliberations at the P20 Summit, which also led to a joint statement.

Birla pointed out that a joint statement was not possible at the previous P20 meeting hosted by Indonesia.