‘If we don’t take terrorism seriously when it happens to somebody else…’: Jaishankar on India’s strong position

External affairs minister S Jaishankar said India will have no credibility if it does not consider terrorism as serious when it impacts other countries.

The statement comes amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and India abstained from a UN resolution on truce in Israel as it did not condemn Hamas for the terror attacks. “We take a strong position on terrorism because we are big victims of terrorism. We will have no credibility if we say that when terrorism impacts us, it’s very serious; when it happens to somebody else, it’s not serious. We need to have a consistent position,” Jaishankar said.

At the UN voting, India supported Canada’s proposal to amend the resolution to insert a text on condemning Hamas. But as it was not adopted, India abstained from voting. Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Yojana Patel, said terrorism is a malignancy and knows no borders, nation or race. “The world should not buy into any justification of terror acts. Let us keep aside differences, unite and adopt a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism,” Yojana Patel said explaining India’s stance on the voting.

As Jaishankar spoke at an event in Bhopal, he explained India’s various external affairs stance and said just as good governance is necessary at home, right judgements are necessary abroad.

“I will give you the example of Ukraine. I know there was a lot of attention that we took a strong stance about our right to buy oil from Russia. But I want you to think, had we cowered before the pressure, had we not exercised this option, think how much higher would have been the price of the petroleum products. Think how much higher inflation would have gone up in the country. It is not just a matter of pride or a statement of independence. A good government stands up for its people,” Jaishankar said.

“The same countries in Europe who said don’t buy oil from Russia were buying it and making sure their people were not affected. There will be pressure on us. Because that’s the nature of the world. A strong government and a good government are the two sides of the same coin,” Jaishankar added.