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First stop terrorism, then talk of SAARC: Sushma Swaraj

Making a distinction between the Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking ceremony and bilateral relations, she declared that there will be no dialogue with Pakistan unless it desists from terrorist activities against India.

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'One swallow doesn't make a summer' was the message that the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sent to Pakistan, responding to reports that it would invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SAARC summit.

It was believed that Pakistan's gesture, responding to India's request to open Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrimage and visit of two Union Ministers, might thaw relations and resume bilateral dialogue process. But Swaraj's message was that one should not assume that something is true just because one has seen a piece of evidence for it.

Making a distinction between the Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking ceremony and bilateral relations, she declared that there will be no dialogue with Pakistan unless it desists from terrorist activities against India.

"Unless and until Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in SAARC," she said in Hyderabad in a rebuff to Pakistan.

India has been asking for a corridor, which will facilitate visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, for many years and she said she was happy that Pakistan had, for the first time, responded positively. "But that does not mean that bilateral talks will start only on this," she said, adding terror and talks cannot go together.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Faisal had said on Tuesday that PM Modi will be invited to the country for the SAARC summit. India had pulled out of the 19th SAARC summit that was to be held in Islamabad after the deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in September 2016.

The summit had to be called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to attend. Maldives and Sri Lanka are the other two members of the regional grouping. No summit meeting of SAARC has happened ever since.

Swaraj, who is campaigning here ahead of the Telangana elections on December 7, said, "The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, dialogue can start but the dialogue is not connected with only the Kartarpur corridor."

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