Pakistan must walk away from terrorism for talks with India: Modi

Pakistan must walk away from terrorism if it wants bilateral dialogue to resume, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.

Modi was addressing the second annual Raisina Dialogue, a geopolitical gathering in New Delhi sponsored by India's foreign ministry and the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank, that is competing for attention with the higher-profile World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to Reuters.

“India alone cannot walk the path of peace with Pakistan and the neighboring country must walk away from terrorism if it wants bilateral dialogue to resume,” Indian Express quoted the prime minister as saying.

“My vision for our neighbourhood puts premium on peaceful and harmonious ties with entire South Asia. That vision had led me to invite leaders of all SAARC nations, including Pakistan, for my swearing in.

“For this vision, I had also travelled to Lahore. But, India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan’s journey to make. Pakistan must walk away from terror if it wants to walk towards dialogue with India,” he said.

Reuters add:

Growing military ambitions in the Asia-Pacific are creating security risks, Modi said in a coded message to China to exercise strategic restraint.

Although couched in diplomatic language and not mentioning China by name, Modi's remarks in a keynote foreign policy speech aligned New Delhi with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's intent to curb Beijing's regional clout.

"Rising ambition and rivalries are generally visible stress points," Modi told an audience of politicians and top military brass from 65 nations at a security conference in New Delhi.

"The steady increase in military power, resources and wealth in the Asia-Pacific has raised the stakes of security."

The U.S. Republican has, since his shock election victory in November over Democrat Hillary Clinton, called into question the "One China" policy that Washington has adhered to for decades.

His pick for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, also told a confirmation hearing that Beijing's militarisation of reclaimed islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea must be stopped.

That is music to the ears of the foreign policy establishment in New Delhi, as are Trump's tentative - albeit in Washington controversial - overtures towards Russia's President Vladimir Putin, whom Modi on Tuesday called "an abiding friend".