New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is at present in Brussels holding meetings with European Union (EU) leaders, pointed out that the West shouldn’t see India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ as merely a border conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours, but India’s fight against terrorism. He also questioned the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
In an interview with the European news outlet Euractiv, Jaishankar also dwelt on the shifting geopolitical landscape in Europe and voiced hope for stronger EU-India ties in the future. India is inching closer to negotiations on a crucial free trade agreement with the EU.
‘That very same terrorism will eventually come back to haunt you’
Jaishankar hit out at the international media for depicting India’s response under Operation Sindoor, in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, as a tit-for-tat exchange between India and Pakistan.
He said: “Let me remind you of something – there was a man named Osama bin Laden. Why did he, of all people, feel safe living for years in a Pakistani military town, right next to their equivalent of West Point?… I want the world to understand – this isn’t merely an India-Pakistan issue. It’s about terrorism. And that very same terrorism will eventually come back to haunt you.”
‘Differences can be resolved through war’
When asked why India had not taken side in Russia-Ukraine war, the Foreign Minister underlined India’s stand is that peace can’t come through wars.
He emphasised that India does not believe that differences can be ironed out on the battlefield. He added that it is not for India to prescribe what the solution should be.
The minister said: “We don’t believe that differences can be resolved through war – we don’t believe a solution will come from the battlefield. It’s not for us to prescribe what that solution should be. My point is, we’re not being prescriptive or judgemental – but we are also not uninvolved.”
He underlined that India has strong ties with both Ukraine and Russia, but also stressed that Western countries had supported Islamabad when Pakistan invaded India just after independence.
Jaishankar said: “Every country, naturally, considers its own experience, history and interests. India has the longest-standing grievance – our borders were violated just months after independence, when Pakistan sent in invaders to Kashmir. And the countries that were most supportive of that? Western countries.”
“If those same countries, who were evasive or reticent then, now say ‘let’s have a great conversation about international principles’, I think I’m justified in asking them to reflect on their own past,” he remarked.
‘Europe now faces the need to make more decisions in its own interest’
Talking about the shifting geopolitics in the West, Jaishankar said that multipolarity is already here. “Europe now faces the need to make more decisions in its own interest – using its own capabilities, and based on the relationships it fosters globally….I hear terms like ‘strategic autonomy’ being used in Europe – these were once part of our vocabulary,” he pointed out.
