‘Hope Pak will become a normal neighbour’: S Jaishankar

Jaishankar pointed out that India has struggled to have normal bilateral trade with Pakistan but Islamabad would not accord the Most Favoured Nation status to New Delhi and even prevented India’s trade with Afghanistan.

India hopes that Pakistan would one day become a “normal” neighbour, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said as he censured Islamabad for using terrorism as a “diplomatic tool” against the country.

On Wednesday, Russia described India’s decision to revoke J&K’ special status as an internal matter and called for the resolution of all issues between New Delhi and Islamabad through dialogue. The remarks by Russian ambassador Nikolay Kudashev coincided with the visit to Moscow by Jaishankar to prepare the grounds for PM Narendra Modi’s trip to Vladivostok next month to participate in the Eastern Economic Forum. (HT FILE)

Jaishankar made the comments to Russian scholars and journalists amidst fresh India-Pak tensions after the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. “Today if you look at international relations, I cannot think of any other country in the world which actually uses terrorism as a diplomatic tool against its neighbour. It is actually a unique phenomenon,” Jaishankar, on his maiden visit to Russia as the external affairs minister, said at an interaction at the Valdai Discussion Club.

Jaishankar pointed out that India has struggled to have normal bilateral trade with Pakistan but Islamabad would not accord the Most Favoured Nation status to New Delhi and even prevented India’s trade with Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Russia described India’s decision to revoke J&K’ special status as an internal matter and called for the resolution of all issues between New Delhi and Islamabad through dialogue. The remarks by Russian ambassador Nikolay Kudashev coincided with the visit to Moscow by Jaishankar to prepare the grounds for PM Narendra Modi’s trip to Vladivostok next month to participate in the Eastern Economic Forum and an annual summit with President Vladimir Putin. There has been some concern in Indian quarters about the stance taken by Russia at the UNSC during recent closed door consultations on the Kashmir issue but Kudashev made it clear that the two countries have similar positions on the matter. “Our position is crystal clear...It (the actions in Kashmir) belongs to the constitutional space of India, thus making it naturally an internal matter of India,” he said at the Russian embassy.