External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Friday called his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto a “promoter, justifyer and spokesperson” of a terrorism industry. Jaishankar also called out Bilawal Bhutto over Pakistan’s double standards on terrorism, said the neighboring country’s credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves.
Bilawal Bhutto is on a visit to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Goa. Jaishankar’s remarks on a day five Indian Army soldiers were killed during an operation in Poonch. A few days ago, five Army personnel were killed when some terrorists fired upon their vehicle in Rajouri.
“As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Mr Bhutto Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifyer and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and countered including at the SCO meeting itself,” S Jaishankar said.
Speaking over a question on India-Pakistan ties and ruling out bilateral talks between the two countries, Jaishankar said, “Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism. Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they legitimize it and that is exactly what is happening.”
“He [Bilawal Bhuto] came here as the Foreign Minister of an SCO Member State. That is part of multilateral diplomacy. Don’t see it as anything more than that. I think that nothing from what he said or what I heard he said deserves for this to be treated more than that,” Jaishankar said.
The foreign minister said, “To come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat.”
“They are committing acts of terrorism. I don’t want to jump the gun on what happened today but we are all feeling equally outraged. On this matter, the terrorism matter, I would say that Pakistan’s credibility is depleting faster than even its reserves,” he said.
