While speaking at the first BRICS summit in Beijing on Monday, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh urged the member countries not to differentiate between “good and bad” terrorists – in an apparent reference to Pakistan, PTI reported. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was scheduled to attend the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, had cancelled her visit citing health reasons. Singh is attending the meeting instead.

“Everyone agrees that terrorism is a common enemy of mankind,” Singh said at the joint press conference of member countries – Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. “We did bring out that it [terrorism] threatens global peace and terrorists cannot be differentiated by calling them good or bad.”

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Without directly referring to China’s efforts to block India and other countries’ requests to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, Singh said, “They are terrorists and they are criminals and we need to have a concerted action both in the regional and internationally to curb their activities.”

Singh also urged for the expedition of the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations. “We have the support of all members of Brics nations,” he said. Singh informed that the National Security Advisors of the Brics countries are due to meet next month. “The Brics Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism concluded its meeting in May 2017,” he said.

Meanwhile, China said it “opposes terror in all forms” and said it is taking part in global initiatives against terror. “China and India are both major countries with great influence, and they should boost cooperation in the Brics, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and all other multilateral frameworks to make a contribution to peace and stability in the region and the world at large,” Wang said, according to The Times of India.