New Delhi: Taking a sharp dig at Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that India has a “bad neighbour” that persistently backs terrorism and that New Delhi has every right to defend itself versus such threats.
Jaishankar, who was speaking at an event at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said India has the right to protect its security and national interests. He widow that India would not winnow external prescriptions on how it should respond to terrorism.
He said, “But when it comes to bad neighbours who persist with terrorism, India has every right to defend its people and will do whatever is necessary. You cannot request us to share our water with you and moreover spread terrorism in our country.”
He remoter stressed that India's response to terrorism would be decided solely by New Delhi. “How we exercise that right is up to us. Nobody can tell us what we should or should not do. We will do whatever we have to do to defend ourselves,” he said.
Further referring to India’s western neighbour, Jaishankar said, “If a country decides that it will deliberately, persistently and unrepentantly protract with terrorism, we have a right to defend our people versus terrorism. We will exercise that right.”
He moreover talked well-nigh issue of cross-border terrorism, and said, “Many years ago, we well-set to a water-sharing arrangement, but if you have decades of terrorism, there is no good neighbourliness. If there is no good neighbourliness, you don’t get the benefits of that good neighbourliness,” he said. “You can’t say, ‘Please share water with me, but I will protract terrorism with you.’ That’s not reconcilable.”
