'If They Wind Down This Industry...' : Jaishankar Slams Pakistan Over Terror - What EAM Said On Neighbouring Countries

(MENAFN- Live Mint) "External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday warned that tolerance for any kind of cross-border terrorism activity in India is very low and said if Pakistan wind down this industry they have created, then people will treat them as a normal neighbour External Affairs Minister was speaking at the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), in Delhi about China, Jaishankar said that if peace and tranquility in border areas are disturbed, would you do business with someone who has just barged into your drawing room. He added that they will encourage people in the country to manufacture in India and procure from India.
On Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and BhutanIf one looks at the last 10 years, there has been great improvement in regional connectivity and inter-dependence. If you look at Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, definitely you can see that in Bangladesh and Nepal, there is road and rail connectivity, fuel pipelines, increased volume of business, and access to ports in Bangladesh is very big.
Lot of these have great consequences for Eastern and North Eastern states. Structurally, things have actually gone well for us with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
On Sri LankaIn the case of Sri Lanka, we have 3 big proposals 1) a land bridge to Sri Lanka, 2) power grid to Sri Lanka and 3) fuel pipeline to Sri Lanka MaldivesOur development projects are doing well, we had some political turbulence which we are hopeful about managing. Things are a little bit more constructive after the visit of my counterpart PakistanWe have struggled continuously with the fact that they have unrelentingly practiced cross-border terrorism. This attitude in our country earlier that we put up with terrorism as eccentricity of a neighbour. The people of this country made a clear decision in 2024 that they are not going to accept it. In this country, the tolerance for any type of cross-border terrorism is very low. It's clear that there will be consequences both across LoC and IB if something like this happens. Now, the ball is in their court.
Message to PakistanIf they wind down this industry they have created, then people will treat them as a normal neighbour. If they make this their core competence, that will define their image. We have been straight with them...They have to make-up their mind. Part of the problem is also, after 2019, then Iran Khan government took number of steps which downgraded relations. We did not do, they did. Our messaging is very clear ChinaWhere China is concerned, there are at least
three aspects to it. The fundamental aspect is, if peace & tranquility in border areas are disturbed, would you do business with someone who has just barged into your drawing room and is trying to make a mess of your house fencing? It's common sense that if a country has gone back on written agreements & is doing something on our borders, then how can we say that the business world will continue as normal and other things won't?...By the way, this doesn't mean business stops & numbers show that. We need to define the problem- do we take precautions today, and identify businesses which are some more sensitive than others issue built up over the last 20 years is the trade imbalance issue. In the long run, we will have to see how we encourage domestic sourcing and manufacturing is, we need to put the national security filter. Where China is concerned, we will still encourage people in this country to manufacture in India, procure from India. But we are not completely and utterly prohibiting people working with China, but we much rather work with Indian companies if option available with you...That's good for national security. We hope, you think that it is good for your business in long termOn consequences of the Ukraine conflictAccording to PTI, Jaishankar extensively delved into the consequences of the Ukraine conflict, escalation of violence in West Asia and disruption of logistics in view of the geopolitical tensions, sanctions, incidents of drone attacks and climate events.\"The world is experiencing a 3F crisis of fuel, food and fertilisers. In Asia, new tensions have emerged in land and sea as agreements are dishonoured and rule of law disregarded. Terrorism and extremism have started to consume those who have long practised it. In many ways, we are actually going through the perfect storm,\" he said.

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