News India Times
October 9, 2015
20
– that’s all you need to know
South Asia
– UNITEDNATIONS
xternal Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj said
Oct. 1 that India was
ready for a dialogue
with Pakistan based on
just one point, “give up terror,”
and will address all outstanding
issues if it gets a positive
response.
Responding to Pakistan Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif’s four-
point peace initiative, Swaraj
said, “We do not need four
points, we need just one – give
up terrorism and let us sit down
and talk.”Addressing the General
Assembly in Hindi, Swaraj said
the international community
should make countries aiding,
arming and protecting terrorists
pay a heavy price.
Speaking of “the challenges
that we face in our ties with
Pakistan,” Swaraj referred to the
terrorism threat from it and the
impunity it grants terrorists like
the mastermind of the 2008
Mumbai attacks.
“None of us can accept that
terrorism is a legitimate instru-
ment of statecraft,” she said.
“The world shared our outrage
at the 2008 Mumbai terror
attacks in which citizens of
many nations were helplessly
butchered. That the mastermind
behind the attack is walking free
is an affront to the entire inter-
national community.”
“Not only have past assur-
ances in this regard not been
honored but new cross-border
terrorist attacks have taken place
recently, in which two terrorists
from across the border have also
been captured alive,” she added.
“We all know that these
attacks are meant to destabilize
India and legitimize Pakistan’s
illegal occupation of parts of the
Indian State of Jammu and
Kashmir and its claim on the
rest of it.”
The world should have a zero
tolerance for terrorism, Swaraj
said, adding: “The
Comprehensive Convention on
International Terrorism can no
longer be held up. Nor can we be
held hostage by seeking to
define terrorism when the
General Assembly in 2006
adopted the Global Counter
Terrorism Strategy unanimous-
ly.”
“Member states must under-
take their obligations to investi-
gate and prosecute those who
are alleged to have supported
terrorism,” she said.
Giving up terrorism “was pre-
cisely what was discussed and
decided by the two prime minis-
ters at Ufa this July,” Swaraj said.
“Let us hold talks at the level of
NSAs (National Security
Advisers) on all issues connected
to terrorism and an early meet-
ing of our Directors General of
Military Operations to address
the situation on the border.”
– IANS
E
‘Give Up Terror’ If You Want Talks With India, Pakistan Is Told
– NEWDELHI
I
ndia and Pakistan clashed at
the United Nations General
Assembly after Pakistani
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
raked up Kashmir in his address,
terming the issue “the most per-
sistent failure” of the U.N. India
hit back, saying Kashmir was
unresolved because Pakistan has
continuously chosen to disre-
gard its commitments, including
the most recent one at Ufa in
Russia.
India also gave a rebuttal to
Sharif’s proposal to de-militarize
Kashmir, asking that Pakistan
needs to first “de-terrorize” the
state. India also demanded that
Pakistan vacate the occupied
area of Jammu and Kashmir,
where protests have begun
against Pakistani rule.
The clash at the U.N. came as
a mega India-Pakistan series,
tentatively scheduled for
December in the United Arab
Emirates, appeared to have fall-
en victim to the political ani-
mosity between the two coun-
tries. India-Pakistan cricket
matches are a huge draw.
In its rebuttal to Sharif’s
speech, India Oct. 1 expressed
regret that Pakistan has “once
again chosen to misuse” the
floor of the world body to “dis-
tort reality and portray a false
picture of the challenges in our
region”.
Exercising India’s Right of
Reply during the General
Debate of the 70th session of
U.N. General Assembly, India’s
First Secretary Abhishek Singh,
at the Permanent Mission of
India to the United Nations,
said:
“Pakistan claims to be the
primary victim of terrorism. In
truth, it is actually a victim of its
own policies of breeding and
sponsoring terrorists.
“Seeking to mask its activities
as though an outcome of
domestic discontent in the
Indian State of Jammu and
Kashmir carries no credibility
with the world.”
Rebutting Pakistan’s claim
that Jammu and Kashmir was
“under foreign occupation,”
Singh said that in fact, “the
occupier in question is
Pakistan”.
He said “India’s reservations
about the proposed China-
Pakistan Economic Corridor
stem from the fact that it passes
through Indian territory illegally
occupied by Pakistan for many
years”.
Sharif had extolled China in
his speech, including Beijing’s
largesse in building the multi-
billion dollar economic corridor,
which he said would bring pros-
perity to the region – rankling
India.
He said Pakistan “greatly
appreciates China’s proactive
role in promoting peace and
prosperity in Afghanistan and
our region.”
China and Pakistan are all-
weather friends, with many of
their cooperation activities,
including the China building the
Gwadar port, perceived as tar-
geted against India.
Singh, in his reply, attacked
Pakistan for regretting that the
Kashmir dispute has remained
unresolved.
He said it has remained unre-
solved “because Pakistan has
chosen to disregard its commit-
ments, whether it was under the
1972 Simla Agreement, the 2004
Joint Declaration forswearing
terrorism, or more recently, the
understanding between our two
prime ministers at Ufa”.
“On each occasion, it is India
that has extended the hand of
friendship. India remains open
even today to engage Pakistan
on outstanding issues in an
atmosphere free of terrorism
and violence.”
To Pakistan raising the issue
of ceasefire violations, which it
blamed on India, he said: “The
world knows that the primary
reason for firing is to provide
cover to terrorists crossing the
border. It needs no imagination
to figure out which side initiates
this exchange.”
On the terrorism spawned by
Pakistan, he said: “It is not
uncommon for states, when
confronted with serious chal-
lenges, to shift responsibility on
others.
“That is the case with
Pakistan and terrorism, reflect-
ing the inability to recognize
that this is a home-grown prob-
lem that has begun to bite the
hand that fed it. We agree that
terrorism has underlying causes
– in this case, poverty of wisdom
and ignorance of conse-
quences.”
“The heart of the matter is a
state that regards the use of ter-
rorism as a legitimate instru-
ment of statecraft. The world
watches with concern as its con-
sequences have spread beyond
its immediate neighborhood. All
of us stand prepared to help, if
only the creators of this monster
wake up to the dangers of what
they have done to themselves,”
he said.
Earlier, in a series of tweets,
external affairs ministry
spokespersonVikas Swarup hit
back at Sharif’s attempt to term
India an occupational force in
Kashmir, by comparing it with
Palestine and giving it a religious
color.
– IANS
India, Pakistan Clash At United Nations Over Kashmir
Israeli Prime Minister Avoids
Dining In Same Restaurant
As Nawaz Sharif
FromNews Dispatches
I
sraeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
shelved his plan to have
dinner Sept. 29 at NewYork’s
Serafina Always, an upscale
restaurant known for its
authentic Italian cuisine,
after he came to know that
his Pakistani counterpart
Nawaz Sharif would also be
eating at the same restaurant
on the same evening.
According to a NewYork
Post report, Netanyahu’s
team had booked tables at
the same restaurant. But
when it came to know that
Sharif too was scheduled to
dine there and had booked a
table, Netanyahu decided
not to have food at the same
restaurant around the same
time.
The Post report said the
decision to cancel dinner at
Serafina Always was to avoid
a “potentially uncomfortable
NewYork confrontation with
Pakistan” during the United
Nations General Assembly
for which both the leaders
were in NewYork.
However, the report also
quoted a source as saying
that the cancellation was
made “for security reasons.”
In 2014 Sharif while
speaking about the Gaza
conflict, Sharif had asked the
world to stop Israel from
“this naked and brutal
aggression,” the report
noted.
Sharif apparently enjoyed
his dinner with his wife with
his security officials seated
on two other tables. The
report did not say if Sharif
knew about Netanyahu’s
plan to come to restaurant
and his eventual cancellation
of booking.
The report said quoting
another source that although
Netanyahu has the best
security in the world, he
chose not to eat at Serafina
because “it wouldn’t make
sense for him to be at a
restaurant at the same time
as Sharif,” the Post said.
