Talks and Terror can't go together; India to boycott SAARC summit

New Delhi: India will not attend the SAARC summit in Pakistan. The announcement was made b y Sushma Swaraj that unless and until pakistan won't stop sponsoring terrorism, there will be no dialogue between the countries.

Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday that talks and terror cannot go together.

Rejecting the invite, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, "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.

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Foreign Office spokesman Mohammed Faisal on Tuesday invited PM Modi to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit.

Earlier, 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.

WHAT ELSE SUSHMA SWARAJ SAID:

- 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.

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- 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.

Sushma Swaraj said she could not attend Kartarpur ceremony because she was tied up with a visit to Telangana.