2 min readNew DelhiAug 4, 2017 04:24 AM IST
First published on: Aug 4, 2017 at 04:24 AM IST
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. (Source: PTI Photo/TV Grab)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj marked out Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s hailing of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani as a “martyr” as the point where the bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan went sour. Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said, “Kahaani badrang tab hui…jab burhan wani ka encounter yahan hua aur Nawaz Sahab ne wahan khade hokar usey shaheed ki sangya di…uske baad cheezein bigdi (the story turned ugly…when Nawaz Sharif hailed Burhan Wani as a martyr after his encounter (killing) here..(bilateral) relations deteriorated after that).”
She said even after the terror attack on Pathankot Airbase on January 1,2016, Pakistan, shedding its past practice of being in denial, set up an investigating team to probe it. She said India will start dialogue with Pakistan the day it stops promoting terrorism against this country and reiterated New Delhi’s red line that terror and talks cannot go together.
“But it can’t be one-sided… Terror and talks cannot go together. The day they stop promoting terror, we will start the talks,” she said replying to a discussion on “India’s foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners”. “You are asking what is our Pakistan roadmap? We had declared it even before the swearing-in. We had invited prime ministers of all the neighbouring countries and all came… Bilateral meetings were also held and I was present,” Swaraj said.
She recalled that the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif along with leaders of all other neighbouring countries had been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government in May 2014. She said that when she visited Pakistan for the ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ on December 9, 2015, Sharif had told Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz that dialogue should be started in a new format and it was given the name of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.Afterwards, Modi went to Lahore as part of that initiative, taking an ‘out-of-box’ decision, she said.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. (Source: PTI Photo/TV Grab)
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