NEW DELHI, May 29: India on Thursday once again made it clear that talks with Pakistan can only happen if it stops cross-border terrorism.
New Delhi’s comments came in response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressing willingness to hold peace talks with India to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, terrorism, water and trade.
“We would like to reiterate that terrorism and talks cannot go together,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.
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His assertion came when asked about Sharif’s comments in Tehran this week that Pakistan wants to hold peace talks with India.
Jaiswal also emphasised that India will only hold talks with Pakistan on the issues of handing over of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and on terrorism.
Pakistan needs to hand over to India the terrorists, whose list we submitted to them some years ago, he said.
“As far as the Indus Water Treaty is concerned, it will remain in abeyance till the time Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support to cross-border terrorism just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: ‘terror and talks cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and water and blood cannot flow together.”
India on April 23 announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.
The measures were announced a day after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
India carried out precision strikes on nine terror infrastructures early on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.
The Pakistani attempts were strongly responded to by the Indian side by inflicting heavy damages to a number of key Pakistani military installations including air bases, air defence systems, command and control centres and radar sites.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on May 10 announced that India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect. (PTI)
