External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar called out Pakistan for the dastardly 26/11 attacks on Mumbai in an interaction during his Vienna visit. Jaishankar said that Pakistan is the country that attacked Mumbai and went after hotels and foreign tourists.
Dr. Jaishankar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, “Pakistan is the country which attacked the city of Mumbai, which went after hotels and foreign tourists, which every day sends terrorists across the border.”
Replying on his “epicentre of terrorism located close to India” statement, the foreign minister noted that “epicentre of terrorism” is a very diplomatic term considering what Pakistan has done to India including the Parliament attack in 2001.
Besides this, Jaishankar also questioned how is it possible Pakistan does not know terrorist camps are running in its sovereign space in broad daylight. He added these terrorists are being trained in military-level combat tactics.
The foreign minister said, “If you (Pakistan) control your sovereign space, which I believe they do. If terrorist camps operate in broad daylight with recruitment and financing, can you really tell me that Pakistan doesn’t know this? Especially, they are being trained in military-level, combat tactics.”
This, however, is not the first time that Dr. S Jaishankar took potshots at Pakistan. During a fireside chat with India Today Group Editor (Publishing) Raj Chengappa at the Indo-Japan India Today Conclave, the minister said that India’s expectations from Pakistanis have never been very high on Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s “butcher of Gujarat” remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dr. Jaishankar stated, “Well, let’s put it this way. Our expectation levels with the Pakistanis are never very high.”
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