‘Talks sans terror’: Delhi rebuffs Nawaz peace plan, unveils own

Indian foreign minister calls on Pakistan to ‘give up support for terrorism’

India on Thursday responded to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s four-point peace roadmap with a ‘one-point’ peace proposal of its own, calling on Pakistan to ‘give up support for terrorism’.

“Yesterday the prime minister of Pakistan proposed a four-point peace initiative. We don’t need four points, we need just one – give up terrorism and let us sit down and talk,” India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said in her speech before the UN General Assembly.

In his address to the assembly a day earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz had proposed Pakistan and India formalise and respect the 2003 understanding for a complete ceasefire along the Line of Control, reaffirm that they will not resort to the use or the threat of use of force under any circumstances, take steps to demilitarise Kashmir, and agree to an unconditional mutual withdrawal from the Siachen Glacier.

Sushma, in her speech on Thursday, said New Delhi was still open to dialogue with Islamabad, but added that ‘talks and terror cannot go together’. She accused Pakistan of not honouring past assurances to bring the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks to book.

The minister also implied Pakistan was involved in recent ‘cross-border’ terrorist attacks in India, which she said were meant to destabilise her country. Sushma called on the international community to stand up against countries ‘that aid and abet terror groups’.

Earlier, a spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry also responded to Prime Minister Nawaz’s proposal to demilitarise Kashmir. “To de-militarise Kashmir is not the answer, to de-terrorise Pakistan is,” Vikas Swarup said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2015.