During his interview to Wall Street Journal, the Prime Minister said that India and Pakistan should together fight poverty, instead of fighting with each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to take the first step towards peace and comprehensive relationship with Pakistan, provided the country turns off the terrorism tap.
In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, he asked Islamabad to remove the "self-imposed" obstacle of terrorism, which is coming in the way of friendship, describing the path to peace a "two-way street". Modi, in his interview ahead of his Washington visit scheduled next month, asked Pakistan to play its part by putting a complete stop to any kind of support to terrorism - "whether state or non-state".
Modi said his government's proactive agenda for a peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood started from the very first day of his government. "I have said that the future that I wish for India is the future that I dream for my neighbours. My visit to Lahore was a clear projection of this belief," he said.
The main Opposition, Congress, however, attacked the PM's Pakistan policy saying he was "going to their weddings, celebrating birthdays and inviting terrorism to Pathankot". Senior party leader and leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed that the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had isolated Islamabad diplomatically.
But after Modi coming to power, Pakistani forces had committed "as many as 1,000" ceasefire violations and many other attacks were an example of the failure of Pakistan policy, he said.
In his interview, Modi said: "In my view, our ties can truly scale great heights once Pakistan removes the self-imposed obstacle of terrorism in the path of our relationship. He said he has always maintained that instead of fighting with each other, India and Pakistan should together fight poverty."
"Pakistan's failure to take effective action in punishing the perpetrators of terror attacks limits the forward progress in our ties," said the Prime Minister.
In a significant comment, he said that there was no reason for India to change the non-alignment policy that is a legacy and has been in place. "We are acutely conscious of our responsibilities both in the region and internationally," he said. On joining the US-led alliance to contain China, Modi said: "We don't have any fighting with China today. We have a boundary dispute, but there is no tension or clashes." He said people-to-people contacts with China have increased, besides trade and investment. "Despite the border dispute, there haven't been any clashes. Not one bullet has been fired in 30 years," he said.
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