New Delhi, Jun 10: Three weeks after a short, but intense, conflict between India and Pakistan, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar issued a strong warning that India would respond forcefully to any future terrorist provocations, regardless of where they originate.
“If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan,” Jaishankar said in an interview with POLITICO during his official visit to Brussels for high-level trade talks with the European Union. The remarks reflect one of the Indian government’s strongest stances on cross-border terrorism in recent months.
“It [Pakistan] is a country very steeped in its use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. That is the whole issue,” Jaishankar told POLITICO. When asked whether the conditions that triggered last month’s hostilities still existed, he said, “If you call the commitment to terrorism a source of tension, absolutely, it is.”
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The conflict erupted in early May following a deadly terrorist attack in an Indian-administered region that claimed the lives of 26 civilians, mainly Hindus. India blamed Pakistan for sponsoring the attack, a charge Islamabad has denied. The clash saw days of missile exchanges and aerial strikes between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, culminating in a ceasefire declared on May 10. (ANI)
