NEW DELHI: Ruled out any bilateral talks with Pakistan on the margins of the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar, India on Thursday stated that “continued terror” cannot be “new normal” in bilateral ties.
Terror attacks mounted by the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists beginning with the Pathankot attack on an Indian Air Force base in January this year till the Nagrota terror attack on an Army base this week have been triggered the downward trajectory of bilateral ties.
“India has always been open to talks but obviously it cannot be that talks take place in an atmosphere of continued terrorism. India will never accept continued terrorism as the new normal in the bilateral relationship,"
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said two days ahead of the conference in Amritsar that will be attended by Advisor to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaz Aziz.
Despite Aziz’s public announcements about willingness to hold talks with India, the MEA has not received any official request yet from Islamabad.
Swarup also rejected criticism that the publicly accepted surgical strikes have done little to combat terrorism abetted from across the border. The MEA Spokesperson contended that the aim of the surgical strikes was to neutralise the imminent threat from the armed terrorists."This imminent threat was successfully neutralised through the surgical strikes. We should not look only at what happened but also at what did not happen, what was prevented through successful neutralisation of terrorists," Swarup added.
He also called Pakistan’s offer of a joint probe in the Uri attack in September that claimed lives of 19 soldiers "pure propaganda ploys". "Pakistan called for an international inquiry; we said we are happy even with their domestic inquiry. When we are giving you fingerprints, DNA of the terrorists who we believe came from Pakistan why Pakistan cannot match this with its national database?” Swarup told reporters here.
Over the years, India has suffered many heinous terrorist attacks which have been supported and sponsored by Pakistan and this has been a calculated strategy on its part for many years. He referred to terror attacks on Indian Parliament, the Kaluchak massacre, 2005 Delhi bombings, strike on the CRPF camp in Rampur in 2008, 26/11 Mumbai attack, besides the assaults on Pathankot air base and the army camp in Uri.