Foreign Secretary talks: ball in Pakistan’s court, says India

“The ball is in Pakistan’s court”, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said when asked about the fate of the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks, reports TNN.

“The immediate issue in front of us is Pakistan’s response to the terrorist attack”.

The UAE today condemned the “heinous” terrorist attack on the IAF base in Pathankot and said that it stands with India in the fight against terrorism.

As India awaits decisive action from Pakistan against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack, unidentified officials quoted by news agency PTI said Thursday’s high-level meeting in Pakistan chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had discussed the terror strike, adding that “the meeting chose to speed up work on the leads given by India”.

“Our prime minister (Narendra Modi) had a conversation with the prime minister of Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif). We have extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan, but we will not countenance cross-border terrorist attacks”, Swarup said.

Responding to a poser on whether India is consistent with its policy that terror and talks can’t go together, Swarup said New Delhi has repeatedly emphasized that there must be talks on terror.

The Pakistani official said Pakistan could temporarily arrest Jaish-e-Mohammad’s leader Masood Azhar to appease India, but only if the leads checked out. But Washington, which laid out the red carpet to Pakistan’s military strongman Gen. Raheel Sharif last November, is showing no signs that it would hold the country to account for its continued backing of terrorism. “We were working towards that when the national security advisers of the two countries met in Bangkok”. The Pakistani Prime Minister promised us prompt and decisive action.

However, the Pathankot terror attack has once again put the focus on terror.

“Chinese side welcomes all the actions that are conducive to improvement of relations between Pakistan and India”, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here. “We have been clear with the highest levels of the government of Pakistan that it must continue to target all militant groups”, the state department’s John Kirby said earlier this week.

India and Pakistan have since agreed to start a comprehensive bilateral dialogue.