Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated India’s firm stance against terrorism and nuclear intimidation, asserting that New Delhi will not be deterred by concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in responding to cross-border terror attacks.
In a strongly worded statement during an interview with Newsweek at its headquarters in One World Trade Centre in New York, Jaishankar said, “We are very clear there will be no impunity for terrorists, that we will not deal with them any longer as proxies and spare the Government which supports and finances and, in many ways, motivates them. We will not allow nuclear blackmail to prevent us from responding,” Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar directly addressed the longstanding global cautionary view that conflict between India and Pakistan must be carefully handled due to the nuclear capabilities of both nations. “We’ve also heard this for too long — that both India and Pakistan are nuclear countries, and therefore, the other guy will come and do horrible things, but you mustn’t do anything because it gets the world worried,” he said.
“Now, we are not going to fall for that. If he is going to come and do things, we are going to go there and also hit the people who did this,” he added, drawing applause from the audience. So no yielding to nuclear blackmail, no impunity to terrorists, no more free pass that they are proxies. And we will do what we have to do to defend our people,” Jaishankar added.
