Pakistan, over decades, was trying to use cross-border terrorism to bring India to the table and used it as its “core policy”, which was made “irrelevant” by the Narendra Modi government, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. He emphasised that India would not deal with Pakistan on their terms in which “practice of terrorism is deemed as legitimate”, and indicated that the neighbouring country has to create a conducive environment free of terror.
"What Pakistan was trying to do, not now but over multiple decades, was really to use cross-border terrorism to bring India to the table. That, in essence, was its core policy. We have made that irrelevant by not playing that game now. It's not a case that we won't deal with a neighbour. After all, at the end of the day, a neighbour is a neighbour, but it is that we will not deal on the basis of terms that they set where the practice of terrorism is deemed as legitimate and effective in order to bring you to the table," Jaishankar said in an interview with ANI, while answering a query in relation to his new book 'Why Bharat Matters'.
What Jaishankar had said earlier on Pakistan?
India had in August last year said that an environment free of terror and hostilities was imperative for normal ties with Pakistan.
Answering questions after the then Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had expressed his willingness to talk to India, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that India wants normal ties with all its neighbours, including Pakistan.
"We desire normal neighbourly relations with all our neighbours, including Pakistan. For this an environment free of terror and hostility is imperative," a MEA spokesperson had said.
Earlier, Jaishankar had said that Pakistan’s future will largely be determined by its own actions and choices.
"I think Pakistan's future is largely determined by Pakistan's actions and by Pakistan's choices. Nobody reaches a difficult situation suddenly and without cause. It is for them to find a way out. Our relationship today is not one where we can be relevant directly to that process," Jaishankar had said.
(With ANI inputs)
