Give up
terrorism and then let’s talk: Sushma to Pakistan
India on Thursday countered Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif’s four-point peace initiative with a one-point offer. “We don’t need
four points, just one — give up terrorism and let’s sit down and talk,”
external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said in an address to the UN general
assembly.
In his UN speech on
Wednesday, Sharif had proposed a four-point initiative:
demilitarization of Kashmir, ceasefire along the Line of Control, affirmation
to not use force and withdrawal from Siachen.
Reaction from India was
sharp and swift. It rubbished elements of the initiative and attempts by Sharif
to portray Pakistan as a victim of terrorism, and blame India for its troubles.
Swaraj rejected his
initiative in toto, saying there was just one issue that needed to be taken
care of. “Talks and terror cannot go together,” she said, adding that this was
what was discussed and decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sharif in
Ufa, Russia, in July.
The national security
advisers of the two countries can meet and discuss all issues connected to
terrorism and the directors general of military operations can meet to tackle
the border situation, she said.
“If the response is
serious and credible,” the minister said, “India is prepared to address all
outstanding issues (which includes Kashmir in diplomacy-speak) through a
bilateral dialogue.”
“None of us can accept
that terrorism is a legitimate instrument of statecraft,” she said, drawing
attention to India’s frustration with continued cross-border terrorism despite
assurances.
She said these attacks
are “meant to destabilize India and legitimize Pakistan’s illegal occupation of
parts of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir”.
The mastermind of the
Mumbai 2008 attacks walks free, she said, calling it an “affront to the entire
international community”.
In an earlier response
to Sharif’s offer, foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, “To
demilitarize Kashmir is not the answer, to de-terrorize Pakistan is.”
On Sharif’s claim that
Pakistan was a victim of terrorism, India said in a right-to-reply statement in
the UN, “In truth, it is actually a victim of its own policies of breeding and
sponsoring terrorists.”
“Pak PM gets foreign
occupation right, occupier wrong,” Swarup said about Sharif’s charge of
“foreign occupation” in Kashmir. “We urge early vacation of Pak-occupied
Kashmir”.
Relations between the
neighbours have plummeted in recent days and weeks amid tension and firing
along the border and cancellation of high-level talks. Both have withdrawn into
their respective corners, saying it’s for the other side to make the next move;
a long way from the optimism following talks in Ufa. Also, the August 24
NSA-level talks between Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval were
cancelled after Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit invited Kashmiri
separatists to a tea reception.
In his speech, Sharif
had sought to portray Pakistan, and himself, as more keen on peace than India.
He had said after taking office in June 2013 that normalization of ties was one
of his first priorities.
He had reached out to
the Indian leadership, he said, yet “today ceasefire violations along the LoC
and working boundary are intensifying, causing civilian deaths”.
“Wisdom dictates our
immediate neighbour refrain from fomenting instability in Pakistan,” he said,
concluding his attempt to take the moral high ground.
India’s response was sharp
and unsparing. “Pakistan’s instability arises from its breeding of terrorists.
Blaming neighbours is not a solution,” Swarup said.
Harping on Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s demand for the expansion of the UN security council,
Swaraj said “if security, development and international peace is to be
maintained, then security council needs to be reformed”.
“We have to include more
developing nations in the decision making structures of the security council,”
Swaraj said.
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