"Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators...": Jaishankar on India-Pakistan ties

Amid a freeze in India-Pakistan ties over Islamabad's support to cross-border terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said "victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism"

Amid a freeze in India-Pakistan ties over Islamabad's support to cross-border terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said the "victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism". Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, Jaishankar slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's "weaponising terrorism" remarks.

"Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism. Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they legitimise it and that is exactly what is happening. To come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat," he said. He was answering questions on India-Pakistan ties including a question from a Pakistani journalist.

Answering a question about the terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday in which five soldiers lost their lives, Jaishankar said there was a shared feeling of outrage. "They are committing acts of terrorism. I don't want to jump the gun on what happened today but we are all feeling equally outraged. On this matter, the terrorism matter, I would say that Pakistan's credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves," Jaishankar said.

The menace of terrorism surfaced again in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday with the Army engaged in an encounter with Pakistan-backed terrorists in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. The incident took place on a day Bilawal Bhutto was in Goa to take part in the SCO meet. Five soldiers lost their lives in the anti-terror operation in the Kandi area of Rajouri on Thursday.

Answering a question related to bilateral talks, Jaishankar said Bilawal Bhutto came as Foreign Minister of an SCO Member State. "That is part of multilateral diplomacy. Don't see it as anything more than that. I think that nothing from what he said or what I heard he said deserves for this to be treated more than that...As a promoter, justifier and I am sorry to say, spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered, including at the SCO meeting," he said.

India has consistently raised the issue of Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism and terrorist infiltration. It has said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have borne the brunt of this terrorism campaign for decades and continue to do so. Answering a query related to China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC), Jaishankar said connectivity cannot violate territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"Let me come to the specifics, on the CPEC, the so-called corridor, I think it was made very clear, not once but twice in the SCO meeting that connectivity is good for progress, but connectivity cannot violate territorial integrity and sovereignty. This has been our long-standing position, nobody should have any doubt about it and I assure those who are in the room today had no doubt about it, I made sure of that," Jaishankar said. He also brushed aside Pakistan's objections to India hosting G20 tourism working group meeting in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir in May.

"I don't think there is a G20 issue to debate with anybody, certainly not with a country which is nothing to do with G20. Jammu and Kashmir was, is, will always be a part of India. The G20 meetings are held in all the Indian states and Union Territories, so it is completely natural that it is held there," Jaishankar said. In his remarks at the SCO meeting, Bilawal Bhutto said terrorism should be "weaponised" for diplomatic point scoring

Bhutto said terrorism continues to threaten global security and that collective security is a joint responsibility. "Let's not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring," he said.

India has said that talks and terror cannot go together and it is for Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere for bilateral talks. (ANI)

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