Four-point formula for peace? Need just one — give up terror, Sushma tells Pak

WASHINGTON: Countries that give safe haven to terrorists must be made to pay a heavy price, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj urged the UN General Assembly on Thursday in a frontal attack on Pakistan, saying it was an affront to the international community that the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Mumbai is walking free in Pakistan.

"Prosecute or extradite," should be the only options, Swaraj told UN members in a reference to Pakistan's dawdling over the trial of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, while urging the world to show zero tolerance for terrorism.

Swaraj also rebuffed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's four-point peace proposal before the same assembly on Wednesday, saying there was no need for four points but only one: Pakistan should give up terrorism and the two sides can sit down and talk.

"India is open to dialogue ... but talks and terror cannot go together," she said.

Expressing disappointment that the UN had not agreed on a comprehensive convention on international terrorism 19 years after India proposed it and the matter had become mired in definitions, Swaraj told the General Assembly that the 70th anniversary of the UN was a good time to adopt it.

"There should be no distinction between good and bad terrorists ... a terrorist is a terrorist," she said, adding that terrorism cannot be linked to any religion either.

Swaraj told the general assembly that not only had Pakistan not acted on past assurance of cracking down on its terror network and prosecuting terrorists, but there had been new attacks on India emanating from Pakistan, in which two terrorists had been captured alive.

The attacks, Swaraj said are meant to destabilize India and legitimize Pakistan's occupation of parts of Jammu & Kashmir.WASHINGTON: Countries that give safe haven to terrorists must be made to pay a heavy price, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj urged the UN General Assembly on Thursday in a frontal attack on Pakistan, saying it was an affront to the international community that the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Mumbai is walking free in Pakistan.

"Prosecute or extradite," should be the only options, Swaraj told UN members in a reference to Pakistan's dawdling over the trial of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, while urging the world to show zero tolerance for terrorism.

Swaraj also rebuffed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's four-point peace proposal before the same assembly on Wednesday, saying there was no need for four points but only one: Pakistan should give up terrorism and the two sides can sit down and talk.

"India is open to dialogue ... but talks and terror cannot go together," she said.

Expressing disappointment that the UN had not agreed on a comprehensive convention on international terrorism 19 years after India proposed it and the matter had become mired in definitions, Swaraj told the General Assembly that the 70th anniversary of the UN was a good time to adopt it.

"There should be no distinction between good and bad terrorists ... a terrorist is a terrorist," she said, adding that terrorism cannot be linked to any religion either.

Swaraj told the general assembly that not only had Pakistan not acted on past assurance of cracking down on its terror network and prosecuting terrorists, but there had been new attacks on India emanating from Pakistan, in which two terrorists had been captured alive.

The attacks, Swaraj said are meant to destabilize India and legitimize Pakistan's occupation of parts of Jammu & Kashmir.