Pakistan rejects Jaishankar’s remarks

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday issued a sharp rebuke to recent comments made by Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during his visit to Brussels, calling the Indian foreign minister’s statements “irresponsible” and accusing India of promoting hostility instead of regional peace.

In an official statement, the ministry said: “Pakistan categorically rejects the irresponsible remarks made by the external affairs minister of India during different media engagements in Brussels. The discourse of top diplomats should aim to promote peace and harmony, rather than producing bellicose punchlines. The tone and tenor of a foreign minister should be commensurate with his dignified status”.

The statement further said that India has been waging a “malicious campaign” against Pakistan based on a “fictitious narrative of victimhood”, while simultaneously engaging in “state-sanctioned oppression” in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and sponsoring terrorism beyond its borders.

“Instead of pointing fingers at others, India should introspect on its own involvement in terrorism, subversion and targeted assassinations. India must also desist from concocting misleading narratives to justify its recent aggressive actions”, said the ministry. Reaffirming its commitment to diplomacy, Islamabad added: “Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence, dialogue and diplomacy. However, it stands resolute in its intent and ability to safeguard its sovereignty against any aggression, as exemplified by its robust response to India’s reckless strikes, last month”.

The ministry has also advised the Indian leadership to shift focus inward and “discard their obsession with Pakistan”, warning that history will judge leaders not by “who shouted the loudest — but by who acted the wisest”.

Pakistan was responding to Jaishankar’s comments, during a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday alongside EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, in which he characterised the India-Pakistan conflict as a fight against terrorism.

“This is not a conflict between two states per se. This is actually a response to the threat and to the practice of terrorism. So, I would urge you not to think of it as India-Pakistan, but ‘India-Terroristan’, you will then appreciate it”, he said.

In an interview with POLITICO, Jaishankar also claimed that Pakistan was using terrorism as an instrument of state policy and said that India’s recent military actions had significantly damaged Pakistani military infrastructure.

“As far I’m concerned, how effective the Rafale was or frankly, how effective other systems were — to me the proof of the pudding are the destroyed and disabled airfields on the Pakistani side”, he claimed, in reference to last month’s hostilities.

Jaishankar also alleged that Pakistan was openly training “thousands” of terrorists and warned of further retaliatory strikes if cross-border attacks continued.

“We are not going to live with it.... retribution will be against the terrorist organisations and the terrorist leadership....And we don’t care where they are. If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan”, he added.

On Thursday, PPP head and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned Jaishankar’s remarks, saying that “Jaishankar speaks like a warmonger and not a diplomat”. Speaking at a press conference at the Pakistan High Commission in London, Bilawal added that “the real problem is extremism in the Indian government”.