Countries that are safe haven to terrorists must be made to pay a heavy price, India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj urged the UN General Assembly in a frontal attack on Pakistan, saying it was an affront to the international community that the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Mumbai is walking free in Pakistan.

Here is the full text of India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj speech

On Wednesday, the first secretary in the permanent mission of India to the UN, Abhishek Singh had used the ‘right of reply’ after Sharif’s speech to hit back at Pakistan over its “policies of breeding and sponsoring terrorists.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday had offered peace talks with  India and asked for ceasefire along the border in Jammu and Kashmir and demilitaristion of the state. While addressing the UN general assembly, Sharif was proposing a new four-point peace initiative with India “starting with measures that are the simplest to implement”.

In response to Sharif describing Pakistan as the “primary victim” of terrorism, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “Pakistan is not a primary victim of terrorism but of its own policies. It is in fact the prime sponsor of terrorism.”

"Prosecute or extradite," should be the only options, Swaraj said to UN members in a reference to Pakistan's dawdling over the trial of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Swaraj rebuffed the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's four-point peace proposal, saying there is no need for four points, but only one, Pakistan should give up terrorism.

"India is open to dialogue, but talks and terror cannot go together," she said. There should be no distinction between good and bad terrorists, a terrorist is a terrorist," she said. "The future of the international community is now dependent on how we respond to the greatest threat that we face today - Terrorism. Countries that support terror must be made to pay a heavy price," Ms Swaraj said.

She said that the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attacks are walking free. "New attacks are taking place. Recently we have caught two Pakistani terrorists alive," she said. "These terror attacks are meant to destabilize India and legitimize the Pakistan's illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir."

India had accused Mr Shaif of misusing the global forum to "distort reality and portray a false picture of the challenges in our region."

Earlier, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, “Pakistan is not primary victim of terrorism but of its own policies. It is in fact the prime sponsor of terrorism.”

By Premji