S Jaishankar in New york; terms Pakistan 'a challenging neighbour'
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke about the problems faced while dealing with Pakistan at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) programme in New York on Thursday. He said, "You have a neighbour who will not trade with you, who is a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) and before that of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), but will not extend Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status even though they are legally obliged." https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1177020811116302336 He added, "You have a neighbour who will not allow you connectivity, who, in many ways, has slowed down regionalism because of concern that it might integrate them more with our economy, who filters people to people interaction. It's a very challenging neighbour," Jaishankar said. https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1177022095240220673 He also slammed Pakistan for turning terrorism into an industry of sorts. "You have terrorism in different parts of the world but there is no part of world where a country uses it consciously and deliberately as a large-scale industry against its neighbour." https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1177007324768034819 Expressing India’s willingness but reservations on holding talks with Pakistan, the minister said, "Issue is not whether to talk or not. Everybody wants to talk to their neighbour. Issue is how do I talk to a country that is conducting terrorism and follows a policy of implausible deniability?" he asked. Also Read: Pakistan Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed predicts India Pakistan war in October According to him, Pakistan’s policy of intimidation and terrorism held Kashmir to ransom for years before India took decisive action. "Level of intimidation had reached a height where senior police officers were lynched on streets of Srinagar, journalists who wrote against separatism were assassinated, military personnel returning home for Eid were kidnapped and killed. Pre August 5 (Abrogation of Article 370) Kashmir was in a mess, difficulties in Kashmir did not start on August 5, it is supposed to be a way of dealing with those difficulties." Jaishankar said. On restrictions imposed in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, Jaishankar said the move was meant to prevent loss of lives. "We had the experience of 2016, when a self-styled terrorist cult figure, Burhan Wani was killed. After that, there was a spike in violence. Our intention was to manage the situation (post Article 370) without loss of life, restrictions were intended to do that." -PTC News
