India won't take part in Saarc meet in Pakistan, says Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said that the Kartarpur corridor initiative does not mean that bilateral dialogue will start with Pakistan.

Giving a strong response to Pakistan's invitation to PM Narendra Modi to attend the 20th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit, Swaraj said India won't participate in it until Pakistan stops terror activities.

The Union minister added that talks can start the moment Islamabad stops terror activities in India.

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"The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, then dialogue can start but the dialogue is not connected with only the Kartarpur corridor," she said.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) announced that PM Modi will be invited for the Saarc summit which is to be held in Islamabad. The dates of the summit are yet to be finalised.



The Union minister said that India had been asking for this (Kartarpur) corridor for many years, and she is happy that Pakistan responded positively now.

The remarks came just before Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone for the much-awaited corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

The Kartarpur corridor, which will facilitate the visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, is expected to be completed within six months.

Earlier, Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Muhammad Faisal told the media that the opening of the Kartarpur border was the historic step for welfare of minorities.

Cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday arrived in Pakistan for the event. The Indian government has sent Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri to represent India at the event in Pakistan.

Pakistan had invited Swaraj, who thanked her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi for the invite and said she was unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib due to prior commitments.

India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016.

(With agency inputs)