India does not want to have to wait for the US and other countries to understand its concerns on terrorism, and what is more important is having the conviction to fight back, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
Speaking to NDTV’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal and Senior Executive Editor Aditya Raj Kaul at the NDTV World Summit on Thursday, the minister emphasised that the world takes note only when a country responds, and India has done that with Operation Sindoor and the Balakot strikes. “It’s not all about Washington understanding or not understanding. First of all, forget about somebody else getting terrorism right. Get it right yourself. If you don’t have the clarity of thought, the conviction to fight back against terrorism, don’t think somebody else is going to do that job for you,” the minister asserted.
Because washington understood it; we acted because we understood it, and when we did act, we didn’t act. If Washington understood it so well, why didn’t we act in 2008, when 26/11 happened?
Jaishankar also said that while India wants a good relationship with Pakistan, it is not willing to overlook terrorism to achieve that. To a question on the Pakistani military establishment successfully managing to woo the Donald Trump administration in the US, the perception that Washington has not fully understood India’s concerns on cross-border terror, and whether this would impact India-US ties, Jaishankar said the issue was actually much broader.
Jaishankar said there had been an evolution of policy and this was evident in India responding to cross-border terrorism with Operation Sindoor last year, the Balakot strikes in 2019, and the surgical strikes in 2016.
