Friday, March 29, 2024

Jaishankar to Pakistan: Terrorism comes back to haunt those who nurture them

Tearing into Pakistan, External affairs minister S Jaishankar attacked Pakistan indirectly for its support for cross-border terrorism, saying forces such as extremism, radicalization, and violence “come back to haunt those who nurture them.”

Addressing foreign ministers’ at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Kazakhstan, he said the world no longer tolerates the use of terrorism by one state against another. 

“Cross-border terrorism is not statecraft; it is simply another form of terrorism. The international community must unite against this menace.” 

“Any calculation that extremism, radicalisation, violence and bigotry can be used to advance interests is a very short-sighted one. Such forces will come back to haunt those who nurture them. Lack of stability will also undermine our collective efforts to get Covid under control. The situation in Afghanistan is, therefore, of grave concern,” he added further. 

Jaishankar described terrorism as the “biggest enemy” of the common goal of peace and development for members of CICA, a multinational forum for cooperation to promote security and stability in Asia that was established under Kazakhstan’s leadership in 1999.

In his speech, Jaishankar also launched a veiled attack at China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and said respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations must be at the heart of all connectivity projects.

”As we build these modern arteries of commerce, it is essential that the most basic principles of international relations are observed. It is also important that connectivity building is a participative and consensual exercise, based on financial viability and local ownership. They must not serve other agendas,” he said.

During his speech, Jaishankar also said Asia suffers from a “deficit of connectivity”, which is needed to promote economic and social activity.

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