AMN /
In a befitting reply to pakistan, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan must “Give up terrorism” before talks about peace in the subcontinent.
In response to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s UN speech, Sushma Sawaraj in her speech at the same forum said India is ready to discuss all issues if the neighbouring country addresses “just one” point of ending terrorism emanating from there, as she proposed NSA-level talks to address the problem. –
Addressing the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj referred to the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks who continue to roam freely in Pakistan and pressed the world community to ensure that countries which provide finances, safe havens and arms to terrorists “pay a heavy price”.
A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raked up Kashmir, the Swaraj used the same forum to raise the issue of “illegal occupation of parts of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir” by Pakistan and said terror attacks from there are engineered to legitimise it. She made it clear that terrorism emanating from Pakistan is hampering normalisation of bilateral relations as she underlined that “talks and terror cannot go together”. “Yesterday the Prime Minister of Pakistan proposed what he termed as a four-point new peace initiative. I would like to respond. We do not need four points, we need just one – give up terrorism and let us sit down and talk,” Swaraj said while addressing the 193-member body.
“International terrorism can only be defeated by organized international action. The world must demonstrate that it has zero tolerance for terrorists who kill and maim innocent civilians with action based on the principle of prosecute or extradite. Countries that provide financing to terrorists and safe havens for their training, arming and operations must be made to pay a heavy price by the international community” said Sushma adding that Equally importantly, an international legal regime, under the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism can no longer be held up.
“19 years ago, in 1996, India had made this proposal at the United Nations but we have been unable to adopt it and entangled ourselves in the issue of definition. We have to understand that there can be no distinction between good and bad terrorists. Neither can terrorism be linked to any religion. A terrorist is a terrorist; one who commits crimes against humanity cannot have any religion. Therefore, my appeal to all of you is that we should come together in this 70th anniversary year of the United Nations and pledge to unanimously adopt the CCIT”.