No dialogue till Pakistan stops terrorism: Gadkari

BEIJING - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Saturday said his party favoured resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue, but only after Islamabad dismantled all terrorist training camps in its territory and stopped cross-border terrorism from its soil.

Speaking to Indian journalists in Beijing, Gadkari said Pakistan has failed to take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. He said any dialogue with Pakistan will be meaningless unless Pakistan completely stops promoting terrorism against India.

Gadkari, who is on a five-day visit to China, the first by a BJP president, said his talks with the Chinese leaders covered a wide range of issues including the BJP’s “core concerns”. He said the visit provided him an opportunity to very effectively put across our serious concerns to the Chinese leadership about the stapled visa, Beijing’s activities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, incursions into Ladakh and the Brahamaputra water issue.

The Chinese leaders “understood” the importance of the issue of terrorism raised by him, including the need for Beijing to use its good offices with Islamabad to stop all terrorist activities against India from its soil, Gadkari said.

Asked whether he supported the Chinese model of development, Gadkari said “we want democracy as well as development. We are not for development at the cost of democracy”.

He said there was a broad national consensus in India that New Delhi should continue to promote people-to-people contact between the two countries. The BJP too favoured party to party contact with the Communist Party of China and enhance operation between the two countries in various fields.

He said the NDA government in Bihar will extend full support to the Chinese support to the initiative to develop Nalanda University.

From Beijing, Gadkari will visit Shanghai and Guangzhou before returning home.