Cross-border terrorism emerging from Pakistan being given befitting response: S Jaishankar

Addressing the inaugural Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru memorial lectures 2024 on the theme ‘Bharat and the World’ at JNU, Jaishankar said: “Uri and Balakot sent their own message” while referring to the ground and air surgical strikes carried out by Indian Forces to target terror infrastructure in Pakistan in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

While talking about the long-standing challenge of cross-border terrorism coming out from Pakistan, Jaishankar said it now elicits more befitting responses.

His comments significantly came on a day that marked the fifth anniversary of an air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force at a major camp of terror organisation Jaish-E-Mohammad in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan.

The attack in Balakot was in retaliation to the dastardly terror attack carried out by JeM in the Pulwama district of Kashmir on Feb 14, 2019, targeting a CRPF convoy in which at least 40 security personnel were killed.

“In such a world, the calculus of national security has understandably become much more complicated, traditional methods of competing and pressurizing are buttressed by new tools of influence and disruptions, here too Bharat has pushback with determination and fortitude,” he said.

Mentioning the northern sector where China indulged in aggression, he said, “When we were challenged on the LAC with China amid COVID, our rapid and effective counter deployments were the appropriate answer."

"To rectify the long neglect of the border infrastructure, India has now made the defence of the nation much more effective," the External Affairs Minister said.

The Minister emphasised that Bharat has multiple symbolisms in different domains including economic, development, political and cultural.

“Politically, Bharat is a statement of independence, it is a declaration that India engages the world, not necessarily on terms set by others,” he said.

“Bharat also means being a civilised state rather than just national polity. It suggests larger responsibility and contribution," he added.

There has been discernible, even if uneven, progress in economic and political re-balancing of the global order, the Minister said, adding that the G20 has taken over the G7 and many new groupings and mechanisms have come into being.

The list of the top economies of the world has undergone change and India itself has moved up six positions in the last decade, he added.

[With UNI inputs]