India snubs Pakistan again: Hints at pushing its 'anti-terror' card at SCO Summit

"Mein kisi desh ke liye nahi kahoonga yehan. Lekin SCO mein jo hamey karna chahihey woh karenge (I will not speak about any specific country here, but in SCO as well we will do whatever is necessary to be done on terrorism issue," Secretary West in the MEA Gitesh Sarma told reporters here.

He was answering a specific question on whether India will continue to make efforts even in the SCO to 'isolate' Pakistan on the terror front.

"....As far as terrorism is an issue and that poses threat to all countries, so we will share our views and experience and push it forward," Mr Sarma said.

Both Mr Sarma and MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar did not confirm about the possibility of any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.

"Whatever we had to share (on possibility of Modi-Imran meet) we have said; to the best of my knowledge there is no meeting organised. There is nothing more that we can add at this stage," Mr Kumar told reporters here.

For his part, Mr Sarma said: "There will be bilateral meetings with China and Russia ....and there are other requests also.”

But he hastened to add that the requests will be processed taking into account "limited time".

Mr Sarma, however, did not confirm whether Pakistan has formally requested for time for bilateral engagement with Prime Minister Modi.

The bilateral relations between India and Pakistan had nosedived in February after Pulwama terror strike that killed 40 central security personnel.

The Indo-Pak relations also figured prominently during election campaign for parliamentary polls which Mr Modi-led BJP won securing 303 seats - a record in decades time.

During his first overseas visits to the Maldives and Sri Lanka since his re-election, Mr Modi made a strong point on terrorism and called for a global conference to deal with the menace and laid emphasis for 'focused action'.

On Sunday, Mr Modi has been the first foreign leader to visit Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter terror attacks in April.

After bilateral talks with Sri Lankan President Sirisena, Mr Modi tweeted: "President Sirisena and I agreed that terrorism is a joint threat that needs collective and focused action.”

On Saturday, June 8, at the Maldives capital Male, the Prime Minister in his address to People's Majlis (Parliament) had called for a global meet to fight terrorism and terror sponsors.

Mr Modi also has asserted that there is a need for a global meet to discuss on terrorists and those who are supporting terrorism in the name of a good terrorist or a bad terrorist.

"I will expect the world bodies and especially the major global players that within a timeframe, a global conference be convened to discuss matters pertaining to terrorism. So that we can discuss all issues and loopholes that the terrorists and their supporters make use of," Mr Modi has said.

He underlined that the manner the world has shown determination to deal with the challenge of climate change, the same sincerity must be shown in dealing with terrorism too.

The strong words on terrorism and the sponsors to the menace from Prime Minister came amid reports that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has written letter to Mr Modi seeking to re-open the dialogue process.

It is worth mentioning that India under PM Modi has taken a firm stance that no talks can be carried out with Pakistan unless Islamabad takes convincing and irreversible steps to fight terror menace and against the terror hideouts and groups.

The SCO was created in April 1996. On 9 June 2017, at its Summit in Astana, India and Pakistan officially joined the forum as full members.

 

Image credit: UNI