‘How do you deal with a neighbour…’: S Jaishankar hits out at Pakistan

Highlighting the intricate nature of maintaining relations with a neighbour like Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that Islamabad openly employs terrorism as a tool of state policy and does not hide it.

He stressed that India will no longer sidestep this issue, emphasising that the prevailing sentiment in the country is to address the challenge of terrorism head-on and not overlook the problem.

Speaking at the Institute of South Asian Studies of the National University of Singapore during his three-nation visit, S Jaishankar discussed his book ‘Why Bharat Matters’.

“Every country wants a stable neighbourhood…we have been unfortunate, or ill-starred to be blessed with the one we have to our west. How do you deal with a neighbour, who does not hide the fact that they use terrorism as an instrument of statecraft?” he said.

Making an indirect reference to Pakistan, the minister mentioned that terrorism in that country fosters terrorism on almost an “industry level” and resembles an “assembly line” process.

“It’s not a one-off, different countries at different points of time have experienced this. But, very sustained, almost an industry level, assembly line…people whose job is to do bad things at night.”

He further mentioned that India has made the decision to confront the problem directly because avoiding it would only lead to further complications. “I don’t have a quick, instantaneous fix, but what I can tell you is that India will not skirt this problem anymore…if we have a problem, we must be honest enough to face up to the problem. If you have to have those discussions, we should, if it’s hard to find a solution, we must work through. We should not give the other country a free pass…in India the mood is not to overlook terrorism.”

The EAM further added, “If you look at the changes that have happened in the last decade, the great deal of public anger and lack of response to terrorism threat is one factor.”

Jaishankar is currently on an official visit to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia from March 23 to March 27.

The purpose of the visit is to strengthen bilateral ties with these nations and to engage in discussions on regional issues of mutual interest, as stated in a release by the Ministry of External Affairs.