PM: No ties until Pak acts on terror

On the eve of Pakistan PM Raja Parvez Ashraf's India visit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there cannot be normalisation of ties with it unless the terror machine still active there was brought under control.

On the eve of Pakistan PM Raja Parvez Ashraf’s private visit to Dargah Ajmer Sharif, India on Friday said there can’t be normalisation of ties with the neighbour unless the terror machine still active was brought under control.

PM Manmohan Singh said New Delhi has made sincere efforts to normalise its relations with Islamabad and had achieved some progress.

“People to people contacts have gone up, trade relations have shown improvement,” Singh said in the Rajya Sabha replying to a debate on motion of thanks to President’s address.

“But there can’t be normalisation of relations between the two countries unless and until the terror machine, which is still active in Pakistan is brought under control,” he said. His underlined that this has been his government’s policy for the past nine years and would continue in the coming times.

External affairs minister Salman Khurshid will host a lunch in his honour at Jaipur, but no “substantive talks” are expected to take place.

PM SLAMS BJP

Continuing with a combative posture against the BJP from the Lok Sabha, Singh on Friday said UPA has better economic growth records than the NDA the Opposition charges of Centre spending through the roof would not deter government from putting more money in social sector schemes.

“I agree to Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley saying that country needs a growth of 7-8% to get rid of poverty. I would like to remind this House that this is precisely the intention of the UPA government,” Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.