Don't Need 4 Points, Need One. Give Up Terrorism: Sushma Swaraj at UN

New York: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today blew the whistle on Pakistan at the United Nations, naming it as a perpetrator of terror and declaring that terror attacks should stop before talks between the two nations can begin.

Her address was a strong rebuttal of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Wednesday's speech, in which he had raised the Kashmir issue and suggested what he called a four-point "peace initiative".

"The future of the international community is now dependent on how we respond to the greatest threat that we face today -- Terrorism. Countries that support terror must be made to pay a heavy price," Ms Swaraj said.

Naming Pakistan, she said the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attacks are walking free. "New attacks are taking place. Recently we have caught two Pakistani terrorists alive," she said. "These terror attacks are meant to destabilise India and legitimise Pakistan's illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir."

India does not have four points, it has only one, she said. "Give up terrorism and we will sit and talk."

Talks and terror cannot go together, she said. If the response is "serious and credible", India is prepared to address all outstanding issues through a bilateral dialogue.

Mr Sharif's four-point "peace initiative" included demilitarisation of Kashmir and an unconditional mutual withdrawal from Siachen Glacier. In his address on Wednesday, he had also said non-resolution of the Kashmir issue was a failure of the United Nations.

Exercising the right to reply, India had accused Mr Shaif of misusing the global forum to "distort reality and portray a false picture of the challenges in our region."

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the Indian community in California's San Jose, had described terrorism as one of the biggest threats to the world. Taking an apparent dig at the UN, he said, "They can't distinguish between good terrorism and bad terrorism in our world. Terrorism is terrorism."

The proposed National Security Adviso level talks between India and Pakistan got scuttled last month after Pakistan insisted on raising the Kashmir issue and meeting the leaders of Hurriyat.