The Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday rejected the “irresponsible assertions” made by Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, saying that New Delhi was again seeking to “deflect attention from its own troubling record as a neighbour that promotes terrorism and contributes to regional instability”.
Although the FO statement did not make a specific mention of the remarks by the Indian minister, its rebuke came after Indian media reported Jaishankar as saying on Friday that New Delhi had a right to defend itself against terrorism while talking about “bad neighbours”.
“You can also have bad neighbours … unfortunately, we do. When you have bad neighbours … if you look to the one to the West — if a country decides that they will deliberately, persistently, unrepentantly continue with terrorism, we have a right to defend our people against terrorism,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
He also spoke about the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), which has been a major bone of contention between the two countries following an attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 blamed by India on Pakistan without evidence, saying: “Many years ago we agreed to a water-sharing arrangement — the belief was it was gesture of goodwill — because of good neighbourliness we were doing it … but if you have decades of terrorism there is no good neighbourliness and you don’t get the benefit of good neighbourliness.”
“You can’t say … Please share water with me but I will continue terrorism – that’s not reconcilable,” he was quoted as saying by the publication.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the FO said, “Pakistan firmly rejects the irresponsible assertions made by the Indian external affairs minister. Once again, India seeks to deflect attention from its own troubling record as a neighbour that promotes terrorism and contributes to regional instability.”
The FO said that India’s “documented involvement in promoting terrorist activities in the region, particularly in Pakistan, is well known”.
“The case of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav remains a stark example of organised, state-sponsored terrorism directed against Pakistan,” it added.
Jadhav was captured in Balochistan in March 2016 and later confessed to his association with the Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing and his involvement in espionage and terrorism in Pakistan. He remains imprisoned in Pakistan.
“Equally concerning are recurring instances of extraterritorial killings, sabotage through proxies, and covert support to terrorist networks. This pattern is consistent with the extremist ideology of Hindutva and its violent proponents,” the FO said.
