NEW DELHI: India on Friday said Pakistan must effectively tackle the issue of terrorism for the two sides to move forward in ties as it highlighted Islamabad’s policy of using terror as an instrument of state policy.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this when asked about Pakistani deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar’s remarks on Thursday about the need for joint efforts for the resumption of bilateral trade.
“The relevant T-word is terrorism, not tango,” Jaiswal said when asked about Dar’s remarks at a media briefing.
Asked at a press conference on Thursday about the possible resumption of trade between India and Pakistan, Dar said: “As far as India is concerned, it takes two to tango.”
Dar is also Pakistan’s foreign minister.
“I think it cannot be one-way, that we will do everything. If there is goodwill from India, then we are ready. But it has to be both sides,” the Pakistan deputy prime minister said.
The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.
Following the Pulwama attack, India withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for Pakistan and imposed 200 per cent duties on imports from that country.
Pakistan suspended trade with India and downgraded diplomatic ties after New Delhi withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
India has been maintaining its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism and remained firm on its position of not having any talks with Islamabad until it stops cross-border terrorism.
However, there were indications of some positive approach in India-Pakistan relations as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad in October to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
It was the first such visit from India to Pakistan in nearly a decade that came amid frosty ties between the two neighbours. (PTI)