Pakistan’s state-sponsored “large-scale industry of terrorism” prevents its government from behaving like a “normal neighbour”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.
In a live video link from New Delhi to address the Leaders’Summit as part of UK-India Week in Buckinghamshire near London, he called oncountries like Britain to be more proactive in calling out nations thatobstruct the international rules-based order because “a lot of whatPakistan is doing today, affects the rest of the world, including the UK”.
“This kind of large-scale industry of terrorism, whichis done with the blessing of the state because the state thinks it is aninstrument against the neighbour… It is increasingly unacceptable to India,and more and more countries are coming around to that view,” he said, inresponse to a question about the political situation vis-à-vis Pakistan.
“I think a lot of the problem today is whether Pakistanis prepared to behave as a normal country and as a normal neighbour. I don’tthink anywhere in the world today, you will have a country which has anindustry geared towards committing acts of terror,” Jaishankar said.
The former diplomat-turned-minister highlighted that whileIndia has offered Pakistan a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status in favour ofnon-discriminatory trade, Pakistan has failed to reciprocate.
He said: “Connectivity is at the heart of South Asiabut Pakistan is resisting connectivity concerning India. So, the challenge thatI see is really if a country practises terrorism, denies normal trade, isobstructing connectivity, how can India work with such a country.
“It is not an easy challenge. We have struggled with itnow for many, many years. It’s not a challenge we can address alone, but also Ithink it is not a challenge we should be addressing alone”.
The minister stressed that he does not have a”pessimistic view” and that nothing would please him more than to seegood India-Pakistan relations, but “given the current situation, it isprobably one of the hardest challenges we face”.
Jaishankar said that the Indian government hopes for astronger global consensus over the issue so that Pakistan can be”pressurised and persuaded” to do the right thing.”Whenever there is a deviation from goodgovernance or common sense or rules of international relations, it is importantfor the international community not to look away, not to make excuses, not toplay some balancing game for its political convenience,” he added.