For talks to be held, Pakistan must prove that it won't back terrorists: Gen Rawat

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi were to meet in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

New Delhi, Sep 23: In line with the Centre's stand that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said that the Union Government has taken the right decision to call off talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi were to meet in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

General Rawat said that the Indian Government has time and again made it clear that Pakistan must stop terrorists from using its soil to launch attacks against India.

"Talks are not being held, because our government's policy is that talks and terrorism can not take place together. We have given a clear message to Pakistan. Government's policy is clear that Pakistan has to prove with their actions that they are not promoting terrorism," the Army Chief said.

"They (Pakistan) keep saying that they will not let their soil be used for terrorist activities against other nation. But we can see that terrorist activities are taking place and terrorists are coming from across the border," he added.

India, on Friday, decided to call off the meeting of foreign ministers of India and Pakistan that it had agreed to a day before. India cited the recent killing of three SPOs in the Kashmir Valley allegedly by Pakistan-backed terrorists and the mutilation of the body of BSF Head Constable Narendra Kumar near the International Border as one of the reasons for cancelling the talks.

"Only the government can decide if talks should be held in such an environment and I think govt has taken the right decision that terrorism and peace talks cannot be held together," General Rawat said today (Sep 23).

Another reason cited by India for cancelling the talks was that Pakistan has released a series of 20 postage stamps glorifying Burhan Wani, a terrorist who was killed by Indian forces in Kashmir in 2016.