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  India   Saarc: Rajnath Singh to raise Pak terror support

Saarc: Rajnath Singh to raise Pak terror support

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jul 29, 2016, 7:10 am IST
Updated : Jul 29, 2016, 7:10 am IST

Home minister Rajnath Singh will strongly raise the issue of Pakistan’s continued support to terror groups operating in India during his visit to Islamabad for the Saarc home and interior ministers co

Home Minister Rajnath Singh. (Photo: PTI)
 Home Minister Rajnath Singh. (Photo: PTI)

Home minister Rajnath Singh will strongly raise the issue of Pakistan’s continued support to terror groups operating in India during his visit to Islamabad for the Saarc home and interior ministers conference starting August 3. This will be the first visit to Pakistan by any senior Indian leader following the attack on the strategic Pathankot air force base on January 2.

Home ministry sources said Mr Singh is likely to ask Pakistan strongly to stop sponsoring all acts of terror against India. There is a possibility, sources added, that home ministry officials may also provide documentary evidence regarding involvement of officials from Pakistan’s security establishment in encouraging terror activities, specially in Jammu and Kashmir, during delegation-level discussions.

The Indian side will raise the issue of slow pace of progress regarding investigations into the Pathankot attack.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “He (home minister) is going for a multilateral event. There is no such proposal. He (Rajnath) is going for a multilateral Saarc event. Our participation is in the context of our ‘neighbourhood first’ policy and our commitment to regional cooperation within the Saarc framework. The meeting also provides an opportunity for us to underline the high importance we attach to achieving forward movement on security cooperation in the region.”

India said it wants peaceful ties with Pakistan even as New Delhi termed the elections carried out by Pakistan in PoK as a “farcical exercise”.

Apart from evolving a joint strategy in dealing with terror among SAARC nations other important issues like smuggling of arms and illicit arms will also be discussed during the meeting. The meeting will also focus on strengthening networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and also enhance information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.

Deliberations will be held at three different levels staring with Joint Secretary moving onto Secretary and Home Minister. During his visit Mr Singh will be accompanied by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other senior officials from the Home Ministry.

The last meeting of SAARC Interior and Home Ministers’ conference was held in Kathmandu in 2014 when the Home Minister had said that member-nations of the group were facing common challenges and they should co-operate with each other to address them.

During the 2014 meeting the Home Minister had also voiced concern over the new threats of terrorism and violence to South Asia and asked SAARC countries to chalk out strategies to check radical groups and extremist ideologies.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi