There is little possibility of Singh having a bilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
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Home Minister Rajnath Singh today arrived here to attend the SAARC Interior Ministers conference tomorrow during which he is expected to raise the issue of most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and cross border terrorism. In an apparent attack on India, he said no country should try and hide behind the word “terrorism” and divert attention from demands of freedom.
Addressing the concluding session of the three-day Envoys Conference organised by foreign ministry here, Sharif said, “resolution of the lingering dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people is the corner stone of Pakistan’s foreign policy”. “I would urge remaining Member States to consider ratifying the Convention at the earliest”, he said. He also said there was a difference between fighting for freedom and terrorism.
He said SAARC condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Today’s blacking out of Singh’s speech need not be seen as exposing Pakistan, but its leaders and how they are collectively determined to push the country further into an abyss. Prime Minister Sharif also touched on terrorism in his opening address but from a different point of view.
As per the Saarc practice, Interior Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan was elected chairman of the seventh meeting of Saarc interior secretaries.
India on Thursday sought strengthening of SAARC monitoring desks on terrorism and drugs, underlining that illicit funds generated from narcotics and fake currency networks are being fed into supporting terror activities.
The will and the mandate of global community against proscribed and wanted terrorists and their organisations must also be respected and implemented. “Only this will ensure that the forces engaged in promoting the heinous crime of terrorism against humanity are effectively countered”, said Rajnath Singh.
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Singh’s arrival coincided with protests at several places by radical organisations and extremist leaders such as Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin. No media coverage of Singh’s address was permitted, according to ANI.
