India claims 'no seriousness' in Pakistan's peace talks offer, calls it 'last country to lecture us on plurailty, inclusive society'

New Delhi: India slammed Pakistan on Friday for its statement that New Delhi was not responding to its peace overtures, saying there was “no seriousness” in Islamabad’s offer for talks as it continued to extend “explicit support” to terror organisations and was now trying to mainstream them.

India’s sharp reaction comes days after Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan accused it of not responding to his peace overtures.

Responding to Khan’s comments, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “I don’t understand these statements. Even before Imran Khan became Prime Minister, our Prime Minister had called and congratulated him on his election win.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also wrote to their counterparts and congratulated them after they assumed office, he said at a media briefing.

Kumar also posed questions to Pakistan to hit out at the country for supporting terrorism and allowing terrorists to use its soil for targeting other nations. “When they say they are ready for talks, then why do their ministers share a platform with internationally designated terrorists. There have been many instances in the past few months when their ministers have shared a platform with such people,” Kumar said.

He cited some instances such as Pakistan’s religious affairs minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri sharing a public platform with Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed on 30 September where both of them made “vitriolic” anti-India statements and the terror organisation opening centres in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In December, Pakistan’s interior minister met representatives of the JuD terrorist organisation and openly pledged support to them, Kumar said. “If Pakistan is ready for talks then why no action has been taken against terrorists involved in the Mumbai and Pathankot terrorist attacks. Always the matter is brushed aside after talks,” he said.

JuD and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) are no longer on the list of proscribed organisations after an ordinance banning them lapsed, he said. “It is clear that the explicit support that banned organisations used to get from Pakistan is still continuing. There has been no change in that,” he asserted. The more serious thing is that they are trying to mainstream terror organisations, Kumar said.

Islamabad wants to deflect attention from its own financial problems and it is doing that by giving statements about other countries, he said.

“So this statement that they want to have talks, there is no seriousness in it and this should be backed up by some action,” the MEA spokesperson said.

On Khan’s statement on the treatment of minorities in India, Kumar said, “Pakistan should be the last country in the world to lecture us on the topic of plurality and inclusive society. We and the world are fully aware of how the minorities are treated in their country.”