Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday obliquely asked Pakistan not to glorify terrorists while Islamabad, in a clear reference to Jammu and Kashmir, denounced the use of “excessive force” against civilians.
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Singh said that he had skipped a luncheon meeting as he had not gone there to have lunch.
Speaking at the conference Nisar said, “There is a difference between struggle for liberation and terrorism”. I also left then.
Singh did not mention Pakistan by name but India accuses its neighbor of sheltering militants fighting against Indian rule in its part of divided Kashmir.
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.
The Interior Minister said that Pakistan respects all rules and agreements of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. “I did not register any protest there”, Singh said. “I will need to ask the foreign ministry about protocol of past occasions”, he said.
The SAARC Home Minister’s conference was something of a face-off between India and Pakistan, as during the meeting the home ministers of the region’s two nuclear powers neither made eye contact nor shook hands. His remarks rendered Rajnath Singh speechless, and he chose not to respond.
Without mincing his words amid the strain of current Indo-Pak relations, Singh said the mere condemnation of terrorism and terrorists is not enough, and that there are no good terrorists or bad terrorists. Pakistan, while extending moral support to the people in Kashmir Valley, had declared Wani to be a “popular leader”. However, the Pakistani Interior Minister left the venue immediately after the meeting got over despite being the host of the lunch. Terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen’s leader, Syed Salahuddin had also “warned” the Pakistan government against welcoming Singh. The statement by State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner, asking Pakistan to act against terror groups targeting its neighbours and not just the ones that pose a threat to it virtually endorses the stand taken by India at the SAARC ministerial meet.
As per reports, the Indian Home Minister has left for Islamabad Airport to return to New Delhi. He added that Pakistan has thus far, not ratified this Convention, as well as SAARC Terrorist Offenses Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and SAARC Drug Offenses Monitoring Desk (SDOMD).
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Addressing yesterday’s meeting, Sharif said Pakistan was committed to jointly working with Saarc member countries to fight terrorism, corruption and organised crimes.
