Sushma Swaraj slams Pakistan for spoiling peace talk

External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has slammed Pakistan for deliberately spoilt the peace talks between the two neighbouring countries.

Accusing Pakistan of “spoilt the game” by initiating talks with Kashmiri separatists, Ms Swaraj said in New York, “The new government has given a new signal. So they spoilt the talks, they spoilt the game.”

Meanwhile Pakistan’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz said that its now India who has to decide when they will start talk with Pakistan.

“They had suspended talks so talks will happen if they take the initiative. There were no violations…it has been normal practice for the past 20 years. It was an overreaction,” Aziz told reporters.

Reacting to Sartaj Aziz’s statement, Sushma Swaraj said, “There is no question of first or second. As far as our reaction is, we have said repeatedly that if a reaction had to come, it had to come at this time only. The initiative was there from our side.”

“PM Sharif had suggested that foreign secretaries should meet for bilateral talks and we agreed to that. But just as the talks are about to happen, four days prior to that the envoy is talking with Hurriyat leaders, then who spoilt the game?” she added.

Sushma Swaraj, however, did not comment on whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Pakistani Counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

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