Pak needs to do much more on ending terror: Krishna

He was replying to a debate on Demand for Grants for the Ministry of External Affairs during which the opposition slammed the government’s foreign policy as “hazy and directionless” and said India should not look up to the US in dealing with Pakistan over terrorism.

Responding to the views expressed by opposition members,including Murli Manohar Joshi (BJP),Krishna contended that security considerations were part of the country’s foreign policy.

He referred to the February 25 Foreign Secretary-level talks and said the initiative for it was taken by India on its own and “without any prodding by anyone”.

The idea behind the invitation to Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to visit India for talks was to “convey our serious concerns about terror they unleash from across the border,” he said,adding “We conveyed what needed to be conveyed”.

During the talks,he said the two sides had agreed to keep contacts open so that there could be a return visit by the Indian Foreign Secretary.

Underlining that “terrorism is one of our core concerns” in relations with Pakistan,Krishna said,”We want Pakistan to do much more (on mitigating it).” He said this had been communicated to Pakistan.

Noting that Composite Dialogue had been going on till Mumbai attacks,the Minister said India had to suspend it to convey “righteous indignation” of the people of the country.