External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday raised the recent Pulwama suicide attack in her crucial bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a day after India destroyed a major Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror training camp in Pakistan.
‘I am visiting China at a time when there is grief and anger in India. It is the worst terrorist attack directed against our security forces in Jammu and Kashmir,’ she said in her opening remarks during the meeting held on the side-lines of Russia, India, China Foreign Ministers meeting.
.@SushmaSwaraj, EAM in #Wuzhen, China: Mr Wang Yi, said “We will cooperate to eradicate breeding ground of #terrorism & #extremism It’s not just a joint strategy but also our commitment…Terrorism is a threat to humanity, so strategy by the 3 countries is not enough. pic.twitter.com/DHr0IGVxIv
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) February 27, 2019
‘The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Muhammed, the Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation,’ she said.
Following the incident, India bombed and destroyed JeM’s biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a ‘very large number’ of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.
Stating that the JeM is banned by the UN and other countries, Swaraj told Wang that this terrorist attack is the direct result of the impunity and cover provided to the JeM and its leaders by the Pakistani side.
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Swaraj who arrived here early this morning told Wang that this is their first meeting this year and therefore an opportune time for the two sides to take stock of the bilateral relations and look ahead for cooperation.
‘The India-China relationship is an important relationship for both of our countries’ she said.
EAM in #Wuzhen, China: We need a global strategy, global cooperation. I’m happy to tell you today we discussed the establishment of UN led global counter-terrorism mechanism & finalising CCIT (Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism) proposed by India to implement it. pic.twitter.com/os5krFnVmN
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) February 27, 2019
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, responding to India’s airstrikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan told that ‘we have taken note of relevant reports.’
China’s Foreign Min: As a mutual friend to both India&Pak we hope that they can conduct dialogue to establish facts through investigation to keep things under control&maintain peace and stability in the region. In this process China is playing a constructive role not the opposite pic.twitter.com/0ZuS3P4xnb
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) February 27, 2019
‘I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia,’ he said.
‘We hope that the parties remain restrained and do more to improve their bilateral relations,’ he said.
Lu also said that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Muhammad Qureshi also spoke to Wang on Monday over the tensions related to the Pulwama attack.
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