Army chief says our position is clear: Terror, talk can’t go together
Days after Prime Minister Imran Khan renewed his offer for restarting the stalled dialogue process with India, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday said Pakistan cannot “stay together with India” as long as it is an Islamic state. He also said India has taken the first step many times and now it is Islamabad’s turn to show some concrete action against terror.
The Army chief made these remarks while responding to Khan’s statement that Pakistan will take two steps forward if India takes one. “There is a contradiction in what they are saying. One step from there should come in a positive manner, we will see if the step has an effect on the ground. Till then our nation has a clear policy-terror and talks can’t go together,” the Army chief said.
He said, “India has always maintained that Pakistan-sponsor terrorism was its “core concern” and unless Islamabad takes action to stop it, the dialogue process cannot be resumed. In fact, External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj made it very clear while rejecting Pakistan’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad. She said on Wednesday dialogue can start ‘the moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India’.”
It is perhaps for the first time that Rawat has expressed an opinion about the religious character of the neighbouring country apparently responsible for the strained India-Pakistan ties. On earlier occasion, he has always conveyed his concerns over cross-border terror emanating from Pakistan.
“If they (Pakistan) have to stay together with India, then they have to develop as a secular state,” Rawat said on the sidelines of the Passing Out Parade of the 135th course at National Defence Academy.
“See this staying together, staying separate, ispe Pakistan ko apni andruni halat dekhni hogi. Pakistan ne apne state ko Islamic state bana diya hai. Hum log secular state hai (Pakistan has to look at its internal situation. They are an Islamic state, we (India) are a secular state),” he said.
Rawat said, “How can we stay together if you say I am an Islamic state and there is no role for anybody else,” adding “If they are willing to become secular like us, then they seem to have an opportunity.
Pehle dekhe, karte hai ki nahi karte (Let us see if they do so or not).”
During a Press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, Khan said he was “ready” to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and for the first time admitted that it was not in the interest of his country to allow its territories to be used for terror activities in other countries. India has always maintained that Pakistan-sponsor terrorism was its “core concern” and unless Islamabad takes action to stop it, the dialogue process cannot be resumed.
Asked about Khan’s statement that Islamabad would move two steps forward if New Delhi took one step, Rawat said, “I would like to tell Pakistan to initiate that first step (of ending terror emanating from its soil). In the past, India has taken several steps. When we say terror is being harboured in your country, show some action by curtailing terror activities which are used against India.”
On Imran Khan’s contention that why India and Pakistan could not be friends when Germany and France could be good neighbours, the Army chief said the neighbouring nation first needs to see its internal condition.