Earlier, Singh did not shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan when they came face-to-face upon the former’s arrival at the venue of the conference at Serena Hotel in the Pakistani capital. I also did what was necessary to maintain the prestige of India. “I also left”, he said while making a statement in both Houses of Parliament. The hosts allegedly did not courtesy which forced Indian Home Minister to skip the lunch.
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Rajya Sabha members also criticised Pakistan for allowing protest against India and the visit of Singh.
“I won’t say it was right or wrong on part of Pakistan in not allowing media coverage”.
On whether there was no telecast of his speech, Singh said he was not aware of the convention and would need to ask the Ministry of External Affairs regarding it.
Meanwhile, Khan said Pakistan was “committed to SAARC processes, and, desires to see it as a successful regional organisation”.
Opposition parties backed the home minister and deplored Islamabad’s conduct.
The Rajya Sabha on Friday stood united as Singh made a passionate speech about his Pakistan visit. Singh, in his address to the 7th SAARC Interiors Ministers Conference, said terrorism continued to remain the biggest challenge and threat to the region.
Though it seemed fairly obvious that Pakistan was not keen on home minister Rajnath Singh visiting Islamabad for a meeting of Saarc interior ministers, the Indian government decided to make a point over terrorism and also keep its commitment to the regional grouping.
He clarified that it also needs to be ensured that terrorism is not glorified and is not patronised by any state. The expectations weren’t very high anyway, but what may have fouled the atmosphere further were the differing perceptions on Burhan Wani’s killing in Kashmir. “But after all these, they (Pakistani establishment) don’t consider itself as our neighbours”, Singh said.
Nisar Ali Khan, on the final day of Saarc conference on Thursday, urged India to halt human rights violation and civilian killings in Kashmir, insisting that fight for freedom can not be termed as terrorism by any means. Merely strong condemnation of such terrorist attacks is not enough.
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However, government sources later described the reports of a “blackout” of Rajnath Singh’s statement during the SAARC ministerial meeting as “misleading”.
