Johannesburg [South Africa], May 28 (ANI): Syed Akbaruddin, India's former permanent representative to the UN, has termed the Pahalgam terror attack an attempt to undermine India's social cohesion and economic momentum. He was interacting with the Indian Diaspora here on Tuesday as part of the multi-party delegation led by the NCP(SCP) MP Supriya Sule.

'Cricket is a passion for all of us. The only country before now that we refused to play was apartheid South Africa. I am raising this because we are now refusing to play cricket with another country. You need to understand the depth of our engagement and our revulsion at why we do this,' Akbaruddin said.

'Yes, this terrorist act led to a loss of a large number of lives, but it was much more. We see this as an act of undermining our social cohesion. We are a pluralistic country with diversity as our signature, yet we saw an attempt to undermine that social cohesion. More importantly, we see this as an attempt to undermine our economic momentum,' he added.

He also highlighted how large the Indian economy is in comparison with that of Pakistan.

'India and Pakistan both started together as Midnight's Children. Our economy is about ten times or more than their economy. The economy of Maharashtra is perhaps larger than the economy of Pakistan,' says former diplomat Syed Akbaruddin,' he said.

NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule said at the event that the terror attack in Pahalgam has deeply hurt every Indian around the world.

Sule said that Prime Minister Modi extended a hand of friendship to neighbouring countries in 2014 when he took oath as Prime Minister, but the recent attack has shown that peace efforts have not been respected.

'When PM Modi took oath in 2014, he invited every neighbour to his oath ceremony to send a message that we wanted the subcontinent to be peaceful and happy and to grow together. But, unfortunately, with the Pahalgam incident, it has not happened. This incident has shaken every Indian everywhere in the world. I am happy South Africa has stood by India,' Sule added.

Sule stated that it's PM Modi's wish that Operation Sindoor must reach the global stage to show that India will not tolerate terrorism and will always stand for peace without sacrificing innocent lives.

The members of the delegation are Members of Parliament Supriya Sule, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Manish Tewari, Anurag Singh Thakur, Lavu Sri Krishna devarayalu, Anand Sharma, former Minister of Commerce & Industry, V Muraleedharan, Former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent. Representative of India to the UN.

On Wednesday, the delegation will visit Cape Town for meetings in the South African Parliament and with South Africa's Ministers of Government. (ANI)