Asserting that a terrorist in one nation can not be a martyr in another nation, India urged SAARC nations to extradite persons involved in supporting terrorism.
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During the Saarc meeting, a tense war of words ensued between Rajnath and Nisar after the Indian Home Minister indirectly implied that Pakistan sponsors terrorism.
The Home Minister confirmed on 5 August that Pakistan didn’t allow Indian journalists from Doordarshan, ANI and PTI to enter the venue of the SAARC Home Minister’s conference in Islamabad, during his speech.
He admitted that there was an apparent media boycott of his speech and that the Pakistani established failed to respect the protocol and the laid norms.
It is also worth mentioning here that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had presented a blunt stance on the Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir during the SAARC meeting in Islamabad.
“When I was going to the hotel, some people were standing and protesting”. But right after extending the invitation, the Minister sat in his auto and left. “I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch”, Mr Singh said in the Rajya Sabha. “I won’t comment if Pakistan was right or wrong in not allowing the coverage”, he said.
Miffed over the treatment that he received in Islamabad, Rajanath said India has always tried to be friendly with its reluctant western neighbour, but, “Yeh padosi hai ki maanta nahin”.
The conference was attended by envoys of Pakistan posted at Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, Afghanistan, UN New York, UN Geneva, Vienna, Brussels and Moscow.
“They’re going after groups, but selectively”, he continued further, adding that we need to see them go after even those groups that might not threaten Pakistan itself but threaten its neighbours. “I also left”, he said while making a statement in both Houses of Parliament.
Home Minister Singh said that Since I was giving speech, I did not know whether it was live telecast or not.
It was the first visit by an Indian minister to Pakistan after the January attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, also blamed on Pakistani terrorists.
He said that the world needed to believe that “attempts to distinguish between “good” and “bad” terrorists are misleading”.
Singh said strongest action should be initiated not only against terrorists but also against organisations, individuals and nations supporting terror. Local media reports claimed Khan chose to ignore the written notes in order to respond to Singh’s speech.
Some news agency reported that members of the Indian media, who had come from New Delhi to report on the conference, were not allowed to cover the speech. They were reportedly kept at a distance by Pakistani officials.
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Pakistani Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, in his remarks, “drew the attention of SAARC member states to the use of brutal force.against unarmed civilians engaged in a struggle against foreign occupation”, a barely-veiled reference to Kashmir. Mr Yadav expressed satisfaction over Home Minister’s stand over terrorism in SAARC meeting.
