United Nations, Sep 29 : India on Saturday lambasted Pakistan for extending continued support to terrorism on Indian soil and blamed Islamabad for sabotaging the talks process.

In her address to the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also urged the UN to adopt the India-initiated Comprehensive Convention on International terrorismn (CCIT) at the earliest so that this global scourge can be defined in definite terms as Pakistan calls terrorists freedom fighters.

"In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border," Sushma Swaraj said

"Our neighbour's expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity," she said.

Sushma Swaraj said that the charge that India has sabotaged the talks process is a lie

"We believe that talks are only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes," she said.

"Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of their behaviour."

Sushma Swaraj said that those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behaviour, not of human rights.

"Pakistan glorifies killers; it refuses to see the blood of innocents," she said in an acerbic attack.

She also urged the UN for an early adoption of the CCIT that was introduced by India to the world body in 1996.

"Till today, that draft has remained a draft, because we cannot agree on a common language," Sushma Swaraj said.

"On the one hand, we want to fight terrorism; on the other, we cannot define it while in Pakistan terrorists are called freedom fighters," she added.




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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.

Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.

Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.

An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.

The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.

A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.

Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."

"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.

"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.

A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.