New Delhi:
The recent confrontation between India and Pakistan was not a “conflict in Kashmir”, Minister of Foreign Affairs S Jaishankar claimed that such a description would be like placing the perpetrator and the victim of the Pahalgam attack at the same level.
The “horrible” strike in Pahalgam was aimed at creating a “anxiety psychosis”, destroying the tourism sector of Jammu and Kashmir and was intended to “sow religious Discord,” he said.
Dr. S Jaishankar made the comments during an interactive session in the German council on foreign relations in Berlin last night.
When asked about the “international implications of the conflict in Kashmir,” he replied: “First of all, this was not a conflict in Kashmir, this was a terrorist attack.” “And a terrorist attack that is part of a pattern that is not only focused on the trade union area of Jammu and Kashmir, but also other parts of India,” said Jaishankar.
“It is very important to clarify, because when you project it as a conflict, you really put the perpetrator and the victim on the same level without meaning.” “So this was a horrible, especially brutal terrorist attack because it was intended to create an anxiety psychosis and to destroy the tourist economy of Kashmir, what the main pillar is,” he said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was in Berlin in the third and final stage of his three-country tour through the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision attacks on nine terror infrastructures in early 7 May in response to the terror attack of April 22 Pahalgam.
After the Indian action, Pakistan tried to attack Indian military bases on 8, 9 and 10 May. The Pakistani attempts were strongly responded by the Indian side.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Miskri on 10 May announced that India and Pakistan achieved a household name to stop all dismissals and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect.
In his comments, Jaishankar said that India focused on “terrorist head office and terrorist centers” in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam attack.
“What we responded to was terrorism and when we respond to such an attack, I think there was a lot of international understanding,” he said.
S Jaishankar also referred to a statement from the UN Security Council, which said that people who did it have to be brought to court.
“And that is exactly what we did on May 7. So we focused on the terrorist head office and terrorist centers. And our campaign is against terrorism,” he said.
“Now in this case the terrorists happened to be in the adjacent country, because that country next to it has used terrorism for many, many years as a kind of tool,” he said.
“When it comes to terrorism, I think there is virtually no country today that would say that I approve what was done or no country that would say that I would not condemn what was done,” he added.
S Jaishankar said that even Germany acknowledges India's right to defend itself against terrorism.
He also threw for greater cooperation between India and Europe in the Indo-Pacific.
“The Indo-Pacific has its own series of problems, security is one of them. But I would actually point to another concept, anyway countries in the Indo-Pacific give more choices.” “That if countries in the Indo-Pacific have a single choice, trace them along a certain path and develop their dependencies,” he added.
“Part of what we try to do in the Indo-Pacific is to give different countries different options in different domains telecom, digital infrastructure, spaces-based applications or health choices,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
