India Will welcome if US-Pak talk on terror:
India today downplayed reports of US President-elect Donald Trump lavishing praise on Nawaz Sharif during a telephonic conversation but said it will welcome US-Pakistan talks to resolve the “issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.”
New Delhi, Publish Date: Dec 1 2016 11:32PM | Updated Date: Dec 1 2016 11:32PM
Will welcome if US-Pak talk on terror: India
"I will reserve my judgement. We have seen only one side of the conversation. And that conversation does talk about the US President-elect willing to resolve all outstanding issues of Pakistan. We believe that the most outstanding issue of the outstanding issues is Pakistan's continued support to terrorism.
"To that extent, we will welcome a dialogue between the US and Pakistan to resolve that issue," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson VikasSwarup said.
CONTINUED TERROR CANNOT BE ‘NEW NORMAL:’
Earlier, talking tough in the wake of attack on an army camp in Nagrota, India today made it clear that talks with Pakistan cannot take place in an atmosphere of "continued terror", which it will never accept as "new normal" in the bilateral relationship.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson VikasSwarup also said the government is awaiting detailed information on the specifics of the Nagrota attack before it decides on the next steps.
"But I do wish to emphasise that the government takes this incident very seriously and will do what it feels is required for our national security," he asserted.
Asked if there would be bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia (HoA) Conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4, he said, "We have not received any request from Pakistan for a bilateral meeting.
"India has always been open to talks but obviously it cannot be that talks take place in an atmosphere of continued terrorism. India will never accept continued terrorism as the new normal in the bilateral relationship," Swarup said.
India's sharp remarks come two days ahead of the conference where Pakistan will be represented by Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Affairs Advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Earlier, Pakistani media reports had quoted officials as having said there would not be a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the HoA meet on Afghanistan.
Prime Minister NarendraModi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will jointly inaugurate the ministerial deliberations on Sunday where the Indian delegation will be led by Finance Minister ArunJaitley in the absence of External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj, who is ill.
Hitting out at Pakistan, Swarup said Pakistan is a country which has a long record of carrying out cross border terrorism which it regards as an instrument of state policy and which puts Islamabad at odds with the rest of the international community.
On the criticism that the attacks increased after the surgical strikes, he said, "It was our assessment at that point of time that there was an imminent threat based on hard intelligence about the location of armed terrorists who were ready to infiltrate from across the LoC and carry out terrorist activities on our side.
"This imminent threat was successfully neutralised through the surgical strikes. We should not look only at what happened but also at what did not happen, what was prevented through successful neutralisation of terrorists."
On the appointment of Pakistan's new army chief, he said it is an internal matter of Pakistan. India will judge Pakistan by its behaviour and its track record and not by change of persons, he added.
On Pakistan suggesting a joint probe in Uri strike, which India maintains was carried out by Pakistan-based militants, Swarup said this has happened in past also and instead of acting on the evidence provided by India, Islamabad engages in "pure propaganda ploys".
"Pakistan called for an international inquiry, we said we are happy even with their domestic inquiry. When we are giving you fingerprints, DNA of the terrorists who we believe came from Pakistan, why Pakistan cannot match this with its national database?
"That would be simplest thing to do, but Pakistan refuses to do that and instead engages in these pure propaganda ploys," the Spokesperson said, adding if Islamabad was serious about tracking down those behind the Uri attack, it should first bring to book those responsible for 26/11 strikes in Mumbai. Besides, it should also share with India the investigation details in the Pathankot air base attack for which a Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan visited the country, he said.
He also rejected Pakistan's allegation that India scuttled this year's SAARC summit, saying its members wrote "unanimously" to the Chair that atmosphere was not conducive for holding the meet.
India today downplayed reports of US President-elect Donald Trump lavishing praise on Nawaz Sharif during a telephonic conversation but said it will welcome US-Pakistan talks to resolve the “issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.”
New Delhi, Publish Date: Dec 1 2016 11:32PM | Updated Date: Dec 1 2016 11:32PM
Will welcome if US-Pak talk on terror: India
"I will reserve my judgement. We have seen only one side of the conversation. And that conversation does talk about the US President-elect willing to resolve all outstanding issues of Pakistan. We believe that the most outstanding issue of the outstanding issues is Pakistan's continued support to terrorism.
"To that extent, we will welcome a dialogue between the US and Pakistan to resolve that issue," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson VikasSwarup said.
CONTINUED TERROR CANNOT BE ‘NEW NORMAL:’
Earlier, talking tough in the wake of attack on an army camp in Nagrota, India today made it clear that talks with Pakistan cannot take place in an atmosphere of "continued terror", which it will never accept as "new normal" in the bilateral relationship.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson VikasSwarup also said the government is awaiting detailed information on the specifics of the Nagrota attack before it decides on the next steps.
"But I do wish to emphasise that the government takes this incident very seriously and will do what it feels is required for our national security," he asserted.
Asked if there would be bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia (HoA) Conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4, he said, "We have not received any request from Pakistan for a bilateral meeting.
"India has always been open to talks but obviously it cannot be that talks take place in an atmosphere of continued terrorism. India will never accept continued terrorism as the new normal in the bilateral relationship," Swarup said.
India's sharp remarks come two days ahead of the conference where Pakistan will be represented by Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Affairs Advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Earlier, Pakistani media reports had quoted officials as having said there would not be a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the HoA meet on Afghanistan.
Prime Minister NarendraModi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will jointly inaugurate the ministerial deliberations on Sunday where the Indian delegation will be led by Finance Minister ArunJaitley in the absence of External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj, who is ill.
Hitting out at Pakistan, Swarup said Pakistan is a country which has a long record of carrying out cross border terrorism which it regards as an instrument of state policy and which puts Islamabad at odds with the rest of the international community.
On the criticism that the attacks increased after the surgical strikes, he said, "It was our assessment at that point of time that there was an imminent threat based on hard intelligence about the location of armed terrorists who were ready to infiltrate from across the LoC and carry out terrorist activities on our side.
"This imminent threat was successfully neutralised through the surgical strikes. We should not look only at what happened but also at what did not happen, what was prevented through successful neutralisation of terrorists."
On the appointment of Pakistan's new army chief, he said it is an internal matter of Pakistan. India will judge Pakistan by its behaviour and its track record and not by change of persons, he added.
On Pakistan suggesting a joint probe in Uri strike, which India maintains was carried out by Pakistan-based militants, Swarup said this has happened in past also and instead of acting on the evidence provided by India, Islamabad engages in "pure propaganda ploys".
"Pakistan called for an international inquiry, we said we are happy even with their domestic inquiry. When we are giving you fingerprints, DNA of the terrorists who we believe came from Pakistan, why Pakistan cannot match this with its national database?
"That would be simplest thing to do, but Pakistan refuses to do that and instead engages in these pure propaganda ploys," the Spokesperson said, adding if Islamabad was serious about tracking down those behind the Uri attack, it should first bring to book those responsible for 26/11 strikes in Mumbai. Besides, it should also share with India the investigation details in the Pathankot air base attack for which a Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan visited the country, he said.
He also rejected Pakistan's allegation that India scuttled this year's SAARC summit, saying its members wrote "unanimously" to the Chair that atmosphere was not conducive for holding the meet.
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