Walk away from terror: Modi tells Pakistan

• Modi tells Pakistan it is a condition to have dialogue with India

Continuing with his hawkish politics, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked Pakistan to “walk away from terror” if it wants to establish amicable relations with India, The Indian Express reported.

The Indian PM was speaking at the inauguration of the second edition of the Raisina Dialogue, an annual conference held in New Delhi, envisioned to be India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.

In his speech, he said Pakistan must walk away from terror if it wants to walk towards dialogue with India.

“Those in our neighbours who support violence, hatred and export terror stand isolated and ignored,” Modi said.

Relations between the two nuclear states have deteriorated over the past few years. They have often stood against each other on issues like Kashmir, cross-border terrorism, Indus Waters Treaty, attacks in Pathankot and Uri and others.

India has also declared that it will isolate Pakistan in the international community, a claim that seems to have no effect as Pakistan’s growing relations with Russia and China prove. On the other hand, US President-elect Donald Trump has not yet announced his official policy on the subcontinent or individual countries.

Hawkish statements from Indian politicians and government officials have become a routine matter as its military leaders recently said that they would carry out a ‘surgical strike’ in Pakistan if needed. Islamabad reacted sharply to this statement when its Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan will respond with full force if India tries to conduct any so-called surgical strike.

Pakistani Senate also passed a resolution the other day condemning the statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about attributing terrorism to Pakistan, and reiterated there will be no compromise on defence and sovereignty of the country.

Pakistan’s Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that India’s attitude of no-dialogue policy is unreasonable, and that “Pakistan will not compromise itself to establish peace with India”.

He said, “My vision for our neighbourhood led me to invite leaders of all SAARC neighbours including Pakistan for my swearing in.”

“I had also travelled to Lahore but India alone cannot walk the path of peace,” the Indian premier added.

Emphasising the importance of security in India’s “neighbourhood”, he said, “Security of our citizens is of paramount importance [but] self-interest alone is not in our culture or behaviour.”

“A thriving well-integrated neighbourhood is my dream,” Modi added.

He said ‘non-state actors are significant contributors to the spread of challenges we face’.

Modi also played down India’s deteriorating relationship with China, saying having differences between two “large neighbouring powers” is not “unnatural”.

“In the management of our relationship and for peace and progress, we need to show sensitivity and respect for our core concerns,” he added.