If there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on terrorism and PoK: PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reiterated India’s firm stance on talks with Pakistan, saying any future discussions will be confined to terrorism and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

In his Address to the Nation following Operation Sindoor, PM Modi said, “Today, I would also like to tell the global community that our stated policy has been: if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on terrorism; and if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).”

Prime Minister Modi warned that Pakistan’s support to terrorism could lead to its downfall. He added that achieving peace is impossible without destroying the terrorist infrastructure.

“The way the Pakistani army and the Pakistan government are encouraging terrorism, it will destroy Pakistan one day. If Pakistan wants to survive, it will have to destroy its terror infrastructure. There is no other way to peace,” he added.

India had launched a surgical strike on terror launch pads along LoC in 2016 and aerial strikes on a terror camp in Pakistan in 2019.

Twenty-six people were killed in the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. India responded through Operation Sindoor and launched precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK), in which over 100 terrorists were killed.

The subsequent aggression by Pakistan was appropriately responded to by the Indian Armed Forces, who also pounded Pakistan’s air bases.
The Prime Minister had earlier said that the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack would face punishment beyond their imagination.

India had also taken several steps to send a strong message to Pakistan over its support to cross-border terrorism and has put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on Saturday on the stoppage of firing and military action following a call made by Pakistan’s DGMO to his Indian counterpart, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai.

Lt Gen Ghai, who interacted with the media at a joint press conference on Sunday, said his Pakistan counterpart proposed during an interaction on Saturday that “we cease hostilities”.

“My communication with the Pak DGMO was conducted at 15:35 hrs yesterday (Saturday) and resulted in cessation of cross-border firing and air intrusions by either side with effect from 17:00 hrs, May 10, after he proposed that we cease hostilities. We also decided to further speak on May 12 at 12:00 hrs to discuss the modalities that would enable the longevity of this understanding,” Lt Gen Ghai said.

“However, disappointingly, expectedly, it took only a couple of hours for the Pakistan Army to violate these arrangements by cross-border and across the Line of Control (LoC) firing, followed by drone intrusions last night and in the early hours of today (Sunday). These violations were responded to robustly,” he added.

Lt Gen Ghai said his counterpart was informed about the violations through a hotline message. India made its intent clear that it would respond to the same “fiercely” if repeated, for which the Chief of Army Staff has granted full authority to the Army Commanders.

Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan also held talks on Monday. (ANI)