Rajnath Singh, who returned home yesterday after attending the seventh SAARC Home Ministers conference, also replied to various queries of the Rajya Sabha MPs regarding the alleged mistreatment given to him there.
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Though the Home Minister did not name Pakistan, the reference was quite obvious. But then he left in his auto.
At the Saarc summit in Islamabad the representatives of India and Pakistan were focused not on finding meeting ground but catering to incompatible constituencies.
The conference was attended by envoys of Pakistan posted at Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, Afghanistan, UN New York, UN Geneva, Vienna, Brussels and Moscow.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday made it clear that he was not treated well in Pakistan, confirming that he skipped a lunch hosted by his counterpart during a meeting of Saarc ministers.
But it’s anyone’s guess that the Indian Home Minister was hinting at Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed and his outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which is linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, saying terrorists should not be glorified as “martyrs”. I said there’s not only need to act against terrorism, but also against those who shelter terrorists.
Mr Singh said attempts to distinguish between good and bad terrorists should be done away with, as this would be a mistake.
Reportedly, Singh left Pakistan in a huff at the mention of Kashmir by Pakistan.
Members of the Indian media, who came from New Delhi, were not allowed to cover the conference and were kept at a distance by Pakistani officials, leading to a verbal duel between a senior Indian official and a Pakistani officer.
He said that like the attacks in Pathankot, Kabul, Mumbai and Dhaka, Pakistan too has lost many innocent lives due to terrorism.
Rajnath Singh said countries needed to take “strongest possible steps” not only against terrorists and their organisations but also against “individuals, institutions, organisations or nations that support them”.
Kashmiris burn a representation of an Indian flag as they chant slogans outside the Foreign Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016.
While Pakistan says Kashmir is at their heart of their decades of rivalry, India says its main issue is the militancy that it accuses Pakistan of sponsoring.
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An interior ministry official in Islamabad clarified there was no blackout of Mr Singh’s speech as none of the speeches of visiting ministers was shown.
