New Delhi:
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar delivered a pointed response on Thursday to Dutch daily De Volkskrant when asked about Pakistan’s repeated denials of harboring terrorist groups on its soil. “Stop pretending Pakistan is not involved in terrorist attacks on India,” he said bluntly, rejecting Islamabad’s claims of ignorance.
Mr. Jaishankar is currently in the Netherlands to bolster bilateral relations with Amsterdam, India’s second-largest trading partner within the European Union. The minister was responding to a question referencing his December 2022 remark calling Pakistan the “epicentre of terrorism.” Standing by his statement, he clarified, “I’m not suggesting it… I’m stating it.”
He drew a sharp analogy to make his point: “Suppose there were military centres in the middle of Amsterdam where tens of thousands gathered for training — would you say your government knows nothing about that?”
Criticizing the international tendency to accept Pakistan’s denials at face value, Jaishankar stated, “We should not go along with the narrative that ‘Pakistan does not know what is going on.’ The most notorious terrorists on the United Nations list are in Pakistan. They operate in big cities, in broad daylight. Their addresses are known, their activities are known, and their mutual contacts are known.”
“So let’s not pretend Pakistan is not involved. The state is involved. The army is up to its neck in it,” he asserted.
