Heart of Asia summit as it happened: Amritsar Declaration recognises terrorism as the biggest threat, says Arun Jaitley

Don’t blame one country for terrorism: Pakistan’s Aziz

Amritsar: Reiterating that Paksitan “is committed to lasting peace in Afghanistan and the region”, Pakistan’s de facto foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz on Sunday said only one country cannot be blamed for rising terrorist violence in the region.

“The first and foremost in our view is continuing violence and acts of terrorism claiming scores of human lives. This needs to be addressed urgently and effectively through collective efforts,” Aziz said at the 6th ministerial ‘Heart of Asia Conference – Istanbul Process on Afghanistan’ in this Punjab city near India’s border with Pakistan.

“It’s simplistic to blame only one country for the recent upsurge in violence. We need to have an objective and holistic view,” Aziz said at the two-day conference.

Earlier, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, in his blunt remarks in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unequivocally named Pakistan for promoting terrorism in the region.

Aziz said Pakistan had “been making serious efforts for facilitating peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban that have not yet produced positive results”.

“We need to make an objective evaluation of our efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan.”

Aziz said his government stood in solidarity with the elected government and people of Afghanistan in furthering the objective of peace, stability and development.

“In our view, there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and all our efforts should be to achieve a politically negotiated settlement through an Afghan-led Afghan-owned process.”

Advocating the need to promote connectivity across the borders, the diplomat said Pakistan was committed to enhancing facilitation for transit of Afghan goods through Pakistan.

“We believe the two sides need to work together for extension of and improvements in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. In this context, let me emphasize that peaceful resolution of outstanding disputes will further improve prospects of regional cooperation and connectivity.”

— IANS

India to work on infrastructure, housing and skill development

“We have been supporting and one of the key areas is going to infrastructure in Afghanistan. The part of this plan is housing and skill development that could be on the agenda,” says Arun Jaitley.

Afghanistan minister Hekmat Karzai says that water management, the building of dams are some of the areas that Afghanistan is looking at.

Heart of Asia Declaration recognises terrorism as the biggest threat to peace

Indian support for Afghan development is unconditional: President Ghani

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​Amritsar: Appreciating India’s unconditional support for the economic development of war-ravaged Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said the expansion of the key Chabahar port between India, Iran and his country was very important for regional trade and connectivity.

Ghani particularly spoke about India’s assistance in the construction of Salma dam — officially called the Afghan-India Friendship Dam — that was inaugurated on 4 June 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Ghani in Herat province of that country.

“India’s support to Afghanistan to improve people’s life is transparent with no strings attached,” the Afghan President said. He was addressing the inaugural function of the 6th ministerial ‘Heart of Asia conference – Istanbul Process on Afghanistan’ in this Punjab city being attended by leaders from south and central Asia and several western countries.

Ghani said the Chabahar port development project “is very important for connectivity and commerce”. India and Iran signed a bilateral agreement in May 2016 to refurbish the port on the Gulf of Oman that is expected to provide an alternative route for trade between India and Afghanistan.

— IANS

Narendra Modi at Golden Temple in Amritsar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi served langar during his visit at Golden temple on the eve of the Heart of Asia Conference, in Amritsar on Saturday.

— PTI

Silence is not the answer: PM

Must demonstrate collective will to defeat terror: PM

We all work towards strengthen its political and social fabric and protect its citizens from external threats. The result of our efforts have been hard earned, but mix. The need of the hour is to expand our ground. We must protect and build on the gains of the last 15 years. Let us reflect on what must be done and what must be avoided, so that its citizens get peace and economic growth. The answers are all there: And putting Afghanistan first. We must demonstrate collective will to defeat terror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlights India-Afghanistan past

“I welcome all of you in Amritsar, a city blessed with beauty and spirituality. It’s a place where Sikh Gurus meditated here. It embodies peace and humanism and is open to all religions. It teaches us of great valour and sacrifice. It’s a city whose character has been shaped by patriotism and philanthropy of its citizens. It also shares a warm relationship with Afghanistan. The flow of trade and ideas through our region has often intersected in Amritsar and to the Grand Trunk Road.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at Heart of Asia

Afghan president stresses on terrorism at Heart of Asia summit

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Afghan president stresses on terrorism at Heart of Asia summit

President Ashraf Ghani speaks at Heart of Asia Summit

India’s help is with no strings attached: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani

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Afghanistan president addresses leaders at Heart of Asia Summit

Much to be done to tackle challenges like terrorism and radicalism: Afghanistan

Addressing the leaders gathered at the Heart of Asia Summit, Afghan Foreign Minister Salauddin Rabbani said that there’ much that needs to be done to tackle challenges like terrorism and radicalism. The minister was giving his remarks at the inauguration of the Heart of Asia summit.

Rabbani also stressed on greater India-Afghanistan relationship. He also stated how India has helped build the Afghanistan parliament and the Salma Dam, officially known as the Afghan-Indian Friendship dam

India ready to help Afghanistan: Arun Jaitley

Addressing all the leaders present at the House of Asia summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reaffirmed India’s stand to help Afghanistan through its challenges.

Afghanistan to seek military hardware from India

According to a report by Prasar Bharti (read here ), Afghanistan is likely to seek enhanced supply of military hardware from India to strengthen its armed forces during the bilateral talk.

Heart of Asia Summit inauguration to open soon, delegates meet for photograph

Prime Minister meet the delegates at the Heart of Asia summit. Leaders meet for a group photograph.

India-Afghanistan bilateral talk last for one hour: Focus on trade and terror

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani  talks were on for nearly an hour. According to CNN-News18, both leaders discussed several topics of importance including the air-connectivity corridor for India-Afghan trade, and Pakistan, CNN-News18 reported.

Pakistan had earlier rejected a road connectivity between the India and Afghanistan via the Wagah border even though Ghani had threatened to block Pakistan’s trade access to Central Asian States (CAS), if it did not allow Afghanistan to trade with India via the Wagah border.

Pakistan Foreign Affairs minister visit Golden Temple

Sartaz Aziz visited the Golden Temple on Sunday, CNN-News18 reported. Aziz had postponed his visit on Saturday.

India-Afghan bilateral talk on, Air connectivity corridor discussed

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani discuss the air connectivity corridor between the two countries.

Sartaj Aziz meets Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

According to PTI, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Sunday met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during which they discussed ways to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia conference. Both Ghani and Aziz had arrived here last evening.

The bilateral meeting came amid Afghanistan expressing its anguish over Islamabad’s not so cooperative approach towards the peace process in the war-ravaged country. 

“They discussed prospects of peace, development and stability in Afghanistan,” a Pakistani source said.

— PTI 

Afghan-India bilateral talks 

No bilateral talks between India and Pakistan

According to CNN-News18, sources have stated that there will be no bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.

Heart of Asia Summit Day 2: Afghan-India bilateral meet on

As we enter Day 2 of the Heat of Asia summit, Afghanistan and India have begun their bilateral talks. According to CNN-News18, sources, both countries are determined to isolate Pakistan. The only question in everyone’s mind is the early arrival of Pakistan foreign minister Sartaz Aziz.

Is there any good reason to accommodate Sartaj Aziz in Amritsar?

The Hearts of Asia conference is about Afghanistan and while technically the Foreign Minister of Pakistan is a delegate, weren’t we supposed to get some sort of traction from the other side of the border by way of assurances that terrorism would have to terminate its relationship with state sponsorship. Suddenly we have their Foreign Minster pop in prematurely and that kind of puts paid to all the outrage over Pampore, Uri, Samba, the mutilation of our soldier in Maalchi and our absolute conviction that Pakistan’s authorities were integral to all these acts of unbridled horror.

— Bikram Bohra, Firstpost (read the full story here)