External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has categorically ruled out any possibility of him holding talks with Pakistan during the upcoming SCO or Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, Jaishankar stressed that his trip is dedicated not only to the multilateral meeting but does not imply discussions about Indo-Pak relations. “I am going there to be a good member of the SCO,” he said, further. “But, you know, if I am civil, then I will be civil.”
The minister’s comments are an echo of India’s position on the resumption of bilateral talks with Pakistan, which have been seized for now until the latter addresses matters concerning terrorism. Jaishankar also indirectly accused Pakistan of creating problems while speaking on the state of stalemate in SAARC. He also described how SAARC is not meeting currently due to the actions of one SAARC member state –particularly Pakistan on support to terrorism. Currently, SAARC is stagnant; in my opinion, the fact of the matter is that we have not convened a meeting of SAARC for a very straightforward reason: there is one member of SAARC that is engaged in cross-border terrorism against at least one other member, and possibly more, he said.
Jaishankar clarified that terrorism is not permitted and suggested that this ongoing problem has stalled integration within SAARC. “That’s why the SAARC meeting has not happened in recent years,” he added. However, he pointed out that this setback notwithstanding, regional integration in the Indian subcontinent has indeed moved forward in the last five to six years.
India has maintained that it is ready to talk to Pakistan, but no peace talks with Pakistan can start unless cross-border terrorism is stopped from Pakistan’s territory to assert its determinant stance on stability in the South Asian region.
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