Pakistan

Pakistan cannot be in denial about terrorism on its soil: India

India's foreign secretary says anti-India terrorist groups cannot be allowed to operate with impunity in Pakistan

News Desk April 26, 2016

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Tuesday. PHOTO: MEA INDIA

India on Tuesday informed Pakistan it "cannot be in denial" on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relations between the two countries.

"Terrorist groups based in Pakistan targeting India must not be allowed to operate with impunity," Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhary.

The top diplomats of both the countries met for talks in New Delhi after a hiatus of several months following a militant attack on an Indian air base.

Pakistan's FS Mr Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry meets Indian FS Dr. S.Jaishankar in Delhi today on sidelines of HoA conference pic.twitter.com/OIPVtrHKd8
— Pakistan High Commission India (@PakinIndia) April 26, 2016

Chaudhry, who is leading Pakistan’s delegation to the Heart of Asia meeting — Istanbul Process, met Jaishankar, in what was termed "useful and wide-ranging exchange of views.

"All outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute came under discussion," according to the Foreign Office.

The foreign secretary emphasised Kashmir remains the core issue that requires just solution under United Nations Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.

India, Pakistan foreign secretaries to meet on sidelines of Heart of Asia conference in New Delhi

Meanwhile, Jaishankar emphasised the need for early and visible progress on Pathankot assault probe as well as Mumbai attack trial in Pakistan, a press release issued by India’s ministry of external affairs said.

Our Statement on Foreign Secretary Jaishankar's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart pic.twitter.com/BtOuduz73M
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) April 26, 2016

The Indian diplomat also pressed for a consular access to Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian spy in custody of law enforcement agencies in Pakistan.

Discussions also covered humanitarian issues, including those pertaining to fishermen and prisoners, and people to people contacts.

The two foreign secretaries also exchanged ideas on taking the relationship forward and agreed to remain in touch.

“The meeting between Pakistan and Indian foreign secretaries provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on recent developments in bilateral context," the Indian media quoted Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit as saying. Basit also attended the meeting.

Pakistan-India dialogue: Foreign secretaries may meet in April

Earlier, Pakistan hosted the fifth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference in Islamabad on December 9, 2015.

Both the diplomats were to meet in January but a terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase led to the cancellation of the key talks.

India apparently linked the resumption of dialogue with the ongoing investigation Pakistan is currently undertaking in connection with the airbase attack.

Pakistan investigators last month visited the scene of the Pathankot attack close to the border in northern Punjab state, as part of its own probe.

COMMENTS (28)

XoF | 8 years ago | Reply India thinks it can commit things to look macho and cool, but in its desparation it embarasses itself by lame spies and pegion stories. It musnt talk and do things its not good at.

Rarun | 8 years ago | Reply @Anon: Not sure which downtrodden minority community left because majority of Muslims stayed and are flourishing in India. Lets see, were they Christians fleeing from blasphemy laws, were they Ahamadiyas fleeing from sectarian killings, were they Shias or Hindus.... hmmm

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Sid | 8 years ago | Reply To all the Pakistani history experts. Indian sub continent was ruled by Britishers before India - Pakistan were created. Before Britishers there were Mughals empire which were suppressing Hindus. at what point in history until partition did Hindu get chance to do any bad to Muslim ? Please produce facts before you give your expert reply.

Ashfaq | 8 years ago | Reply I believe that we need to have our backyard clean and conscience clear to have good relations with our neighbours. Pakistan can't enforce its unstated policies using proxy groups. Time for army to pass on foreign policy matters to the parliament so an open transparent policy can be drafted and image of Pakistan can be cleared. Ps not expecting these comments to be published as its critical of certain quarters

Kamal | 8 years ago | Reply Stop genocide and suppressing Kashmiris and anti-Indian terrorists (freedom fighters) will not have any reason to cause mayhem in India. Continue repression and they will infiltrate despite best Pakistani efforts to stop. And while you are trying to achieve regional peace bring down the number of your Consulates (BLA training centers) in Afghanistan.

Zahid | 8 years ago | Reply Talks and talks going on and on, no concrete action Kashmir is the core issue must solve it India just wasting time on other issues General Raheel Sharif and his team will solve all Indian issues, Our political system PM sleeping Nawaz Sharif does not care about Pakistan he is just making money and saving his family on Panama leaks

Sunil | 8 years ago | Reply @Anon: "Isnt it more likely that Pakistan was made because of the Anti-Muslim attitude of the Hindu majority India?" NO. We have many people living in India and you have to look at what Muslim invadars did to us. You are in denial and are in occupation of our lands.

timatynic@yahoo.com | 8 years ago | Reply @TiffinBox: Meanwhile India is sending the likes of Kulbhushan Jadev to Pakistan with roses, milk and wheat to spread love and peace accross the region.

Rahul | 8 years ago | Reply @Parvez: Majority of Pakistanis quit in 1971 and decided to call their country Bangladesh. Creation of Pakistan was mainly supported by Muslims from Bengal, CP & UP. One can argue that the real Pakistan ceased to exist after 1971. So Nehru was off by 15 years, but his prediction did come true.

timatynic@yahoo.com | 8 years ago | Reply @Tyggar: This was due to complete and repeat offenses made by Mr. Nehru to undermine Muslims in Congress and subsequently in India, which took place over many important moments and therefore Muslims were left with no other choice. There...now you're enlightened :) Cherry picking is fun...isn't it? Read what Jaswant Singh has to say about it.

timatynic@yahoo.com | 8 years ago | Reply @eddied: What have been the attitude of India and few powerful Afghans ever since 1947 towards Pakistan -- there within lies the answer to your question.

BruteForce | 8 years ago | Reply So funny that the Pakistani commentators are here saying India is lying and that there are no Terrorists in Pakistan, at the same time, same day, ET, this very newspaper is reporting this. http://tribune.com.pk/story/1091498/dawood-ibrahim-may-have-legs-amputated-due-to-gangrene-report/ Like Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden, Dawood Ibrahim, a known Terrorist, blacklisted by the UN is getting the best of medical treatment in Karachi. Dear Pakistanis, the only people you can fool is yourselves. Americans, Afghans, Iranians, Europeans, even the Chinese know Pakistan shelters Terrorists. I don't see the point of your denial. Please enlighten us Indians.

Anon | 8 years ago | Reply @TiffinBox: And India has never been involved in any action overseas, huh? Remember Tamil tigers? Mukti Bahini? The recent involvement in Afghanistan? An Indian agent is currently in custody in Pakistan for god's sake! The Indian government even admitted he was a naval officer!

Anon | 8 years ago | Reply @TiffinBox: Yea, I'll do that. And you can research Congress Rule 1937. And the fact that Congress repeatedly denied any possible chance of reconciliation or move that would allay muslim fears of being swamped in a Hindu majority. Even many of your own politicians admit that Nehru probably had more to do with partition than Jinnah did. Why is it so difficult for you guys to accept that there was genuine fear among the Muslim community and that's why they demanded a separate homeland?

hamza khan | 8 years ago | Reply @Anon: precisely. revisionist history by hindu extremist RSS/BJP types shows muslims as unwilling to mold into the dominant hindu majority. as a scholar recently noted about iqbal's change of heart regarding a muslim state: "This was because the Indian National Congress’s Swadeshi politics and Bande Mataram-like trappings reeked too much of an idiom that increasingly became exclusionist of non-Hindus; likewise, the social change-centric Arya Samaj movement’s belief in the supremacy of a Hindutva-based mechanism (albeit in a milder form than the ideology later espoused by the Rashtriya Sevak Sangh and the like) as a counterweight to colonialism, left a Muslim thinker who was well versed in his own tradition and secular, western education with little choice."

Parvez | 8 years ago | Reply When Pakistan was born Nehru said it would not last more than a few weeks.......he was wrong. Then in '71 as admitted by Modi India managed to break-up Pakistan ( it is immaterial that it may have happened in the future or may be not ).......today what we see happening is a continuation of history, only thing is we are better prepared this time around.

Mr Obvious | 8 years ago | Reply Most people outside of Pakistan would say that the Foreign Minister of India is just stating the obvious. Can anyone deny that Pakistan's image has taking a drubbing over it's connection to terrorism? Can anyone deny that Pakistan's relations with India, Afghanistan, USA, and even China have been impacted by it's association with terrorism and Muslim extremist? , Pakistan is fond of saying that it can't be associated with terrorism because Pakistan is one of the biggest targets of terrorism .. but that's that a false/illogical argument. Pakistan has been using terrorist as "strategic assets" long before the TTP came along to target Pakistan.

Jerry | 8 years ago | Reply This is a typical Indian technique to do it and blame it on Pakistan. Just when Abdullah Abdullah was to go to Pakistan, Indian proxies staged the blast in Kabul, he cancelled the trip and Ghani blamed it on Pakistan. It is time, all these terrorist acts including false flag operations happening anywhere in the world should be investigated under UN and the perpetrators traced. Otherwise how much more innocent blood is shed is anyone guess.

Hameed Shaheen | 8 years ago | Reply Over Jammu and Kashmir the process of dialogue had started by Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah himself on October 31, 1947, when he had invited Indian Premier Pandit J-Nehru to Lahore; Pandit accepted the invitation, but at the nick of time feigned illness; instead of himself, he sent his governor general lord mountbatten who take with him lord ismay and both visited Lahore, met the Quaid; Quaid proposed that a joint visit to Srinagar at that time when Jammu and Kashmir was burning with resistance fire by Kashmiris; Mountbatten told Quaid he does not have the mandate for such a step; Liaquat was ill, but present in Lahore. Mountbatten and Ismay met him also. what I wish to stress that via dialogue india would never agree to implement the UN SC resolutions on Kashmir; but that must not be inferred that we start a war; war is no option now anywhere in the world, yes, it is still a weapon of victory for USA and not for anyother poor or rich power. whatever may be the consequences we must continue kashmir dialogue with india; we need dialogue; india does not; we have to re-rail our economy; we are facing worst terrorism; our combative brains are engaged too much. we should not sever process of talks with india, the tyrant in kashmir.

Ul Logical | 8 years ago | Reply This may come as a surprise to many readers; pak is one of the most peaceful, kind, tolerant, law-abiding countries in the world; its citizens are wonderful people mindful of co-existence with everyone and hoping that the country returns to its roots of sharia law of 2 bc; the whole world is conspiring against the country; imagine the temerity of WB and IMF telling its citizens to pay taxes..!!! and also refusing loans...!!! not that it matters ..pak already has China; $ 46 bn; just hope that they never get an insight that we don't intend repaying any of it....good work..!!

TiffinBox | 8 years ago | Reply The problem is and has always been Pakistan. It needs to stop nurturing, spreading and supporting terrorism in other countries (India, Afghanistan, USA, UK) and mind its own business (not that it will happen but lets hope for a miracle).

Tyggar | 8 years ago | Reply @Anon: Research Direct Action Day and you will be enlightened

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply The problem is India. It needs to stop interfering in other countries affairs and mind its own business (not that it will happen but lets hope for a miracle).

eddied | 8 years ago | Reply Isn't it interesting how both neighbors, India and Afghanistan, say terrorism is being fostered in Pakistan and is spilling over into their countries?.. are they both wrong or are they both right?

ghazal | 8 years ago | Reply it is not just India , pakistan 's denial will effecting relation with every one, be it USA , Iran , Afghanistan or Russia, and in future with china

Shah(Berlin) | 8 years ago | Reply @V. C. Bhutani: This hows the education level in India. We got separated and minding our own buisness. India wants to bully every one. Your army is killing innocent people in Kashmir and Indians have the guts to blame Pakistan for it. Just because some Indians have money the country is loosing its grip on humanity. And offcourse India lives in denial...your spy has already spilled the beans not like "kabootors" caught by Indian intelligence...

Anon | 8 years ago | Reply @V. C. Bhutani: I see BJPs new history is doing its work! So you're trying to say that a downtrodden backward minority was bigoted and left? Isnt it more likely that Pakistan was made because of the Anti-Muslim attitude of the Hindu majority India?

V. C. Bhutani | 8 years ago | Reply We seem to be living in a paradise of our imagination when we express hope and even expectation that India–Pakistan talks at any level can produce good results. Pakistan came into being because of an anti-Hindu attitude which went on to become an anti-Indian attitude. We have seen that attitude at play in all the years of Pakistan’s existence. Doubtless, the occasion of the Heart of Asia conference should be used by our foreign secretary to push on with matters relating to Pathankot, but we should be clear that nothing will come out of the Indian team’s visit to Pakistan, just as nothing came out of the Pakistani team’s visit to India. Besides, it is overly optimistic to think that India and Pakistan can agree on anything relating to any question. What can foreign secretaries achieve when their hands are tied by other considerations? We should know that good intentions alone are not enough. V. C. Bhutani, Delhi

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