No talks beyond terror, Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance: Jaishankar
The only issue related to Jammu & Kashmir that New Delhi is willing to discuss with Islamabad is the vacation of areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.
New Delhi: India is willing to hold talks with Pakistan only on the issue of terror and the Indus Waters Treaty will remain in abeyance until cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is “irrevocably stopped”, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.
The only issue related to Jammu and Kashmir that New Delhi is willing to discuss with Islamabad is the vacation of the parts of the region illegally occupied by Pakistan, Jaishankar said on the margins of an event to inaugurate the new embassy of Honduras.
“I think the Prime Minister made it very clear that the only talks with Pakistan will be on terror, that Pakistan has a list of terrorists who need to be handed over, they have to shut down the terrorist infrastructure,” he said. “They know what to do. We are prepared to discuss with them what is to be done on terrorism. Those are the talks which are feasible.”
Jaishankar pointed out that the Cabinet Committee on Security and the government were very clear that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 “will continue to be held in abeyance until cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped”.
He also made it clear that the “only thing which remains to be discussed on Kashmir is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”. He added, “We are open to discussing that with Pakistan...The government’s position is very, very clear.”
The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty was among a raft of punitive diplomatic, political and economic measures unveiled by India a day after the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 as a response to “cross-border linkages” to the incident.
On May 7, India carried out a series of precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in territories controlled by Pakistan. This triggered four days of intense armed confrontation between the two sides, using drones, missiles and long-range weapons, till they reached an understanding on halting firing and military actions on May 10.
Jaishankar’s remarks came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to hold talks with India on a range of issues, including Kashmir and the Indus Waters Treaty.
Also read: Guest column | Indus water treaty inherently unfair on India
In an apparent reference to offers of mediation on the Kashmir issue by US President Donald Trump, Jaishankar said that India’s relations and dealings with Pakistan “will be bilateral and strictly bilateral”. This has been the national consensus for many years and “there is absolutely no change in that consensus that dealings with Pakistan will be bilateral”, he said.
India, he said, had agreed on a cessation of firing and military action with Pakistan as it had achieved the goals of Operation Sindoor by destroying terrorist infrastructure at Bahawalpur, Muridke, Muzaffarabad and other places. “Since the key goals were achieved, we reasonably took the position [on halting military actions] because even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure, we are not striking at the military,” he said.
“So, the (Pakistan) military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice,” he said, adding that satellite imagery had brought out “very graphically how much damage” Indian air strikes had caused to Pakistani military facilities.
“By the way, the satellite pictures also bring out how little damage they did. These pictures will tell you what a hit they took and the same people who were not willing to stand down on May 7, were willing to talk and stand down on May 10. It is very clear who wanted the cessation of firing,” Jaishankar said.
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Referring to Trump’s comments about using trade to stop the fighting between India and Pakistan, Jaishankar said trade negotiations have been going on between India and the US.
“In fact, I think the team is just going at this point. These are very complicated negotiations. They are very intricate, nothing is decided till everything is. But any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial [and] work for both the countries. I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal and until that is done, I think any judgment on it would be premature,” he said.
Jaishankar said India received a “lot of international support” after the Pahalgam terror attack and a UN Security Council press statement too had clearly said the “perpetrators of the attack should be held accountable”.
