‘Want good ties but Pak must end terror’
India seeks ties with Pakistan free of terrorism and hopes for stable relations with Bangladesh, emphasizing mutual benefits and regional cooperation.
India desires relations “free of terrorism” with Pakistan and hopes that its ties with Bangladesh will “settle down to a mutually beneficial and stable relationship”, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said in Parliament on Friday, as he also cautioned against “point-scoring” over the state of India’s diplomatic relations.
The minister was responding to Lok Sabha members during question hour.
He said the government hopes its ties with Dhaka will “settle down to a mutually beneficial and stable relationship” under the new dispensation led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and that it would like to have good ties with all neighbours, including Pakistan.
“But like with any other neighbour, we would also like to have ties free of terrorism. This has been the position of the government,” he said while responding to a query from BJP lawmaker Naveen Jindal on what the government would do to improve bilateral relations and trade with Pakistan.
“We have made it very clear that it is for the Pakistani side to show that they are changing their behaviour of the past. That if they don’t, of course, there are implications for the relationship and for them,” he said. “I think the ball is very much in Pakistan’s court in this regard.”
There were disruptions in trade because of decisions made by the Pakistan government in 2019, Jaishankar said. “It is a matter on which they took the initiative, and we have an agnostic position on this,” he said.
He was referring to Pakistan’s decision to snap trade relations in August 2019 in response to the Indian government’s move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divide the state into two union territories. At the time, Pakistan also decided against posting a high commissioner in New Delhi and downgraded diplomatic ties.
The two countries have not held any substantive and sustained dialogue since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which were carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Pulwama suicide bombing in February 2019, which killed 40 Indian troopers and was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, brought the two countries to the brink of war.
India has consistently said the improvement of bilateral ties is linked to Pakistan ending its support for cross-border terrorism.
Jindal posed a supplementary query on ties with Pakistan after Jaishankar answered a question on the government’s “Neighbourhood First” policy. Jaishankar responded to another supplementary question from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi on the situation of minorities in Bangladesh by saying that this “has been a source of concern”.
He said: “There have been multiple incidents of attacks on them. We have drawn our concern to their attention. Recently, the foreign secretary visited Dhaka. This subject came up during his meetings and it is our expectation that, in its own interest, Bangladesh would take measures so that its minorities are safe.”
Referring to the interim government formed in Dhaka after former premier Sheikh Hasina stepped down in August, Jaishankar added: “Certainly, it is our hope that with the new dispensation in Bangladesh, we will settle down to a mutually beneficial and stable relationship.”
Jaishankar spoke at length on ties with neighbouring countries when Congress MP Manish Tewari questioned whether any country in the region has an “India first” policy. He said the number of India-backed development projects, volume of trade and exchanges provide a clear picture of the country’s relations within the region.
“Our neighbours also have their politics. There are ups and downs in their countries. It will have some implications for us, but it is important we are mature and we don’t get into point-scoring,” he said.
“I think the idea if there is a desire to somehow show the foreign policy of this government in a bad light for political purposes, that is the member’s privilege. But then you know it is not my nature to make foreign policy partisan,” he added.
Tewari pointed out that India was the eighth country visited by the Maldives president after assuming office in 2023 and that he had travelled to New Delhi “under severe economic compulsion”, while Nepal’s new prime minister had first travelled to China and signed up for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Tewari also noted that China holds 12.9% of Sri Lanka’s external debt, while Bhutan’s negotiations with China to settle a border dispute were at an “advanced stage” and could have implications for the strategic Doklam plateau.
Jaishankar responded that there had been no visit from India to Nepal for 17 years before Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the country, while there were no high-level bilateral visits to Sri Lanka for 30 years till Modi travelled there.
“Visits are important, I accept it. Visits are also the subject of timing, of convenience, of agenda...Do they give us priority? And the answer is yes...With this government and Maldives, we have inaugurated the Addu link road and reclamation project...28 islands there were provided water and sewage facilities. By the way, the president of the Maldives was present at the oath-taking of this new government,” he said.
Jaishankar also noted that “Indian companies were driven out for an important project” in the Maldives in 2012, and Hambantota port was built by the Chinese in Sri Lanka in 2008. “The same Bangladesh was giving support to terrorism still 2014. The same Myanmar was hosting Indian insurgent groups,” he added.
Jaishankar responded to another question from Owaisi by saying Nepal’s decision to include Indian territories in maps on its currency notes would not change India’s position. In response to yet another supplementary question, Jaishankar said India had to review its “open regime” policy for the border with Myanmar because of the “very disturbed conditions” in that country.
In a written reply to a question on the government’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, Jaishankar said this guides the management of relations with countries in the immediate neighbourhood and focuses on creating mutually beneficial, people-oriented, regional frameworks for stability and prosperity, including through the building of physical and digital connectivity.
Under this policy, India has helped neighbouring countries in developing infrastructure projects, ranging from large-scale infrastructure to community-related assets and platforms, and extending financial, budgetary and humanitarian aid.
This includes humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, development projects in Bangladesh in cross-border power, energy and transport, assistance to Bhutan for developing its hydropower resources, maritime security and connectivity cooperation with the Maldives, and aid to Myanmar for several connectivity infrastructure projects.
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