India Protests Imran’s Kashmir Reference, To Skip SAARC Meet

NEW DELHI -- India on November 28 said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's reference to Jammu and Kashmir during the ground breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor was "deeply regrettable" and asserted that he chose to politicise a pious moment. The Ministry of External Affairs said Jammu and Kashmir was an "integral and inalienable" part of India.

 "It is deeply regrettable that the Prime Minister of Pakistan chose to politicise the pious occasion meant to realise the long pending demand of the Sikh community to develop a Kartarpur corridor by making unwarranted reference to Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral and inalienable part of India," the ministry said.

It added that Pakistan must fulfil its international obligations and take effective and credible action to stop providing shelter and all kind of support to cross-border terrorism from territories under its control.

Mr. Khan on November 28 laid the foundation stone for a historic corridor linking two revered gurdwaras on both sides of the border.

PM Modi Not Visiting Pak for SAARC

Won't attend the proposed Saarc Summit in Pakistan and there will be no dialogue with Islamabad until it stops sponsoring terrorism, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced on Wednesday.

Sushma Swaraj made it clear that New Delhi will not participate in the Saarc summit and it was not responding to an invite from Pakistan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the gathering of South Asian leaders. 

"As I said, unless and until Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc," she told the media here. 

Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammed Faisal said on Tuesday. The Saarc Summit of 2016 which was to be held in Pakistan was cancelled after India boycotted the event, triggering a pullout by Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday that talks and terror cannot go together. 

She said that although India welcomed the development of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims, it would not have any dialogue with Islamabad till it stopped sponsoring terrorism. "Bilateral dialogues and Kartarpur corridor are two different things. I am very happy that for the last 20 years, rather many years, the government of India has been asking for this Kartarpur corridor and for the first time Pakistan responded positively," she said. 

"But that doesn't mean that bilateral dialogue will start... We always say terror and talks can't go together. The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, the dialogue can start. 

The dialogue is not connected with only Kartarpur corridor," she added. Sushma Swaraj said she could not attend Kartarpur ceremony because she was tied up with a visit to Telangana. She refused to comment on Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's participation in the ceremony related to the corridor opening and referred to his statement that he was going there in his personal capacity.