Dhaka: "Nothing justifies the murder of innocent people," said Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran at the SAARC meeting of foreign secretaries on Monday. He also accused Pakistan of placing hurdles in the implementation of SAFTA.
India raised its concerns over cross-border terrorism at the SAARC and sought "active cooperation" from Pakistan and other member countries to eliminate the menace.
Saran referred to the deadly July 11 Mumbai blasts and said it underscored the need for active cooperation among all countries of the region to deal with terrorism.
Saran pointed out at the meeting that terrorism was a menace and it needs to be eliminated. His view found support from other member countries. Responding to this, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan insisted that his country was already engaged in a campaign against terrorism.
The meeting also discussed SAFTA, over whose implementation differences persisted between India and Pakistan.
At the meeting, the Pakistani side maintained its position of doing trade with India as per the agreed tariff concessions under the trade agreement 'subject to import policy notified by the Ministry of Commerce'.
India had taken strong objection to Pakistan attaching conditionalities to trade with it under SAFTA and said Islamabad's action was against the essence of the Agreement and "contradict the commitment" made by the leaders at the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka in November 2004.
Comments
0 comment