With India holding the presidency this year, the country received for the first time since 2011 a high-level visit from Pakistan, as foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's arrival to the coastal state made headlines on Thursday.
In a hard-hitting attack on his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called him the "promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry" after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting on Friday.
"As a promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and countered including at the SCO meeting itself," says EAM Dr S Jaishankar. With India holding the presidency this year, the country received for the first time since 2011 a high-level visit from Pakistan, as foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's arrival to the coastal state made headlines on Thursday.
On Bhutto Zardari's comments on tackling terrorism, Jaishankar said Pakistan's credibility in dealing with is depleting even faster than their forex reserves. Asked whether there could be talks between India and Pakistan on combating the menace, the external affairs minister said, "Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism."
Jaishankar also asserted that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and will" always be part of India. The external affairs minister said Bhutto Zardari came to India as foreign minister of an SCO member state and it is part of multilateral diplomacy. "Do not see it as anything more than that," he added.
On the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Jaishankar said it was made very clear that connectivity is good for progress, but it cannot violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states. He said as a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto Zardari was treated accordingly.
(With inputs from PTI)