Pakistan still cosy with terrorists: India

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar during a media briefing on January 11, 2019. Photo: Twitter/@MEAIndia

NEW DELHI, Jan 12, 2019, The Hindu. India on Friday urged Pakistan to demonstrate its sincerity for maintaining peaceful ties with India. In a scathing remark, the Ministry of External Affairs cautioned Islamabad, saying that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is trying to integrate terrorists into Pakistani society, reported The Hindu.

“If they are serious about talks then why are they still allowing their territory to be used by terror groups, terrorist organisations and terrorists. And such terror groups which are not only targeting India but other places also,” said Raveesh Kumar, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs highlighting that Pakistani ministers in recent weeks were found on public platforms with terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

The spokesperson pointed out that India’s demand for punishing those responsible for the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 2008 and the Pathankot terror attacks of 2016 have not been addressed so far by Pakistan.

This is the first time since the arrival of the Imran Khan government in 2018 that New Delhi has reminded Islamabad that it has failed to show commitment to control terror. Sources said that Pakistan was playing a game where it projected a sincere face through Mr. Khan while in fact it was encouraging terrorism. In this regard the MEA said that some of the anti-terror measures taken during the Nawaz Sharif era were discontinued.

“JuD and their NGO named Fala-e-Insaniyat are no longer in the list of Pakistan’s banned organisations after the Pakistan ordinance which proscribed them lapsed,” said the spokesperson, pointing out that a member of the current ruling party of Pakistan, PTI assisted JuD in setting up centres in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The MEA’s comments came on the heels of statements by other governments calling for talks between India and Pakistan to break the impasse. On Friday, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that if “U.S. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un can meet in Singapore, then why can’t countries in the SAARC region,” referring to India’s refusal to attend the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit until Pakistan acted on its terror concerns.

Earlier in the week, visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg had also called for peace initiatives.

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