Sushma says open for talks with Pakistan with terror rider
New Delhi, May 28: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said India was ready for talks with Pakistan if it stopped aiding terrorism.
"We are always ready for talks with Pakistan. We have never said we are not ready for talks. But there is a caveat. Terror and talks don't go together," she said at a press conference.
"This is our position and there is no change in our position. We are ready for talks even before the (2019) elections. Election has nothing to do with this. We are ready for talks even before elections only if Pakistan leaves terrorism and is willing to come to the table for talks."
She said a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan was not possible when attacks were being carried out and people killed.
Replying to a question about engagement with Pakistan at other levels, Sushma Swaraj said the Coast Guard and the Border Security Force continue talking to their Pakistan counterparts.
On Pakistan's controversial Gilgit-Baltistan order that alters the status of the northern region of the parts of Jammu and Kashmir under Islamabad control, the minister said India had lodged its protests over the order and "the answer we got... is laughable".
"As for Gilgit-Baltistan being named by Pakistan as its fifth state, the same day we expressed our opposition, and the reply came more as a lesson on history and geography. I felt while reading their answer was, 'look who's talking',. They need not give us gyan on it."
As for Saarc minus Pakistan, she said the South Asian bloc would not remain a grouping if a country went out.
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FIR against 2 women corporators of Congress in Indore over refusal to sing 'Vande Mataram'
Indore (PTI): Police registered a case against two women corporators of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Wednesday on the charge of disturbing communal harmony for their refusal to sing the national song 'Vande Mataram', an official said.
During the Indore Municipal Corporation's budget session on April 8, Congress corporator Fauzia Sheikh Alim refused to sing 'Vande Mataram' citing Islamic beliefs.
Another corporator, Rubina Iqbal Khan, who joined the Congress after winning the civic election as an independent candidate, also supported Fauzia's stance and refused to sing the national song.
Talking to PTI, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Amarendra Singh said following a probe into a complaint, a case has been registered against Fauzia and Rubina at the M G Road police station under section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony between different communities).
The police summoned both the corporators for questioning over the past two days and recorded their statements, he said.
"Finally, finding the case prima facie cognisable, we have registered an FIR and initiated a detailed investigation," Singh said.
