HYDERABAD: A day after the Pakistan foreign office expressed that it's government would be inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the SAARC summit, Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj speaking in Hyderabad said that India will not be responding positively to the invitation.
Swaraj was interacting with the media when she was asked if the agreement between India and Pakistan to develop the Kartarpur corridor would pace the way for bilateral talks. To this, Swaraj said although she is happy that the Pakistan government agreed for development of Kartarpur corridor, which has been a long-pending demand of every government in Delhi, she pointed out that terror and talks cannot go together.
The corridor corresponds to looking of two important Sikh shrines in Pakistan and India for easy access of pilgrims - the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan and Dera Baba Nanak at Gurdaspur in India Swaraj said that she tried to start a bilateral dialogue and had even visited Pakistan but after that the two terror attacks at Pathankot and Uri took place.
She said that the bilateral talks and development of Kartarpur corridor are two different things. The union minister stressed the need for a crackdown on unscrupulous agents by state governments, to ensure that innocent people aiming to earn livelihood abroad don't fall prey victims to them.
Many people from Telangana have been rescued through intervention of External Affairs ministry in the recent past from various Gulf countries after they got stuck there being duped of job opportunities by unscrupulous agents back home. She said she had written to the Chief Ministers of all states to crack down on such agents and to create awareness among people regarding the issue.