TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ India has rejected China’s suggestion that it should not raise concerns over Pakistan’s links with cross-border terrorism at the BRICS summit next week to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Your intervention or any leader’s intervention is that leader’s intervention…So you are free to speak what you want at the conference,” External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a media briefing when asked about remarks by his Chinese counterpart that it would not be appropriate for India to discuss its concerns over Pakistan on terrorism at the summit.
He was asked whether it was proper on the part of the host country to suggest to a member country as to what it should not raise at a summit. However, Kumar said he would not like to pre-empt what the document of the summit would say on the subject, saying it is a matter of consensus.
Asked whether the issue of terrorism and Pakistan would be a topic of discussion, he said it has not been finalised. “We will not be able to share what is in the document and the same applies to discussions with leaders.”
Asked whether the Doklam issue that triggered tensions between the two countries could come up in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit, he said that schedule of bilateral discussion with leaders has still not been finalised.
