India on Thursday said it will review the Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan based on the security and trade interests, asserting that terror cannot be the commodity exported.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup also said that the speech by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hailing Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani in the country’s Parliament shows Islamabad’s complicity in terrorism directed against India and was “self implicating”. Mr. Sharif on Wednesday hailed Wani as “son of the Kashmiri soil” while addressing a joint session of Parliament.
“Promoting shared prosperity with neighbours has been government’s priority but terror cannot be the commodity exported. We will undertake a review based on our security and trade interests,” Mr. Swarup said when asked if India will review the MFN status given to Pakistan by India, unilaterally.
Asked about the recent conversation between the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan, he said the Prime Ministers of the two countries had in January 2016 agreed that their NSAs will remain in touch and the details should not be made public. “India remains committed not to make it public.”
Mr. Swarup also refused to react to the reports in Pakistani media that Mr. Sharif has asked the powerful military not to shield banned militant groups and directed authorities to conclude the Pathankot terror attack probe and the 2008 Mumbai attack trials.
On the reports that Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), a umbrella group of jihadi and Islamist outfits such as Hafiz Saeed’s Jaish-e-Mohammed, organising a rally in Pakistan on October 28, 2016, he said India has always voiced its concerns at the freedom available to such internationally designated terrorists in Pakistan to conduct and promote anti-India activities openly.
“It is up to the government of Pakistan to abide by its assurances that it will deny the use of its territory for such purposes,” he added.
