New Delhi: The recent confrontation between India and Pakistan was not a “conflict in Kashmir”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has asserted, saying such a description would be like putting the perpetrator and the victim of the Pahalgam attack at the same level.
The “horrific” strike in Pahalgam was aimed at creating a “fear psychosis”, destroying Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism sector and was meant to “sow religious discord”, he said.
Jaishankar made the remarks during an interactive session at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin late last evening.
When asked about the “international implications of the conflict in Kashmir”, he responded: “First of all, this was not a conflict in Kashmir, this was a terrorist attack.”
“And a terrorist attack which is part of a pattern which has not only targeted the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, but other parts of India as well,” Jaishankar said.
“It’s very important to clarify because when you project it as a conflict, you’re really putting the perpetrator and the victim, without meaning to, at the same level.”
“So this was a horrific, particularly brutal terrorist attack because it was meant to create a fear psychosis and destroy the tourism economy of Kashmir, which is the mainstay,” he said.
The external affairs minister was in Berlin in the third and final leg of his three-nation tour of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision strikes on nine terror infrastructures early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10. The Pakistani attempts were strongly responded to by the Indian side.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on May 10 announced that India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect.
In his remarks, Jaishankar said India targeted “terrorist headquarters and terrorist centres” in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam attack.
“What we were responding to was terrorism and when we responded to such an attack, I think there was a lot of international understanding,” he said.
Jaishankar also referred to a statement issued by the UN Security Council, that said people who did it should be brought to justice.
“And that is exactly what we did on May 7. So we targeted terrorist headquarters and terrorist centres. And our campaign is against terrorism,” he said.
“Now, the terrorists in this case happened to be located in the country next door because that country next door has for many, many years used terrorism as a kind of a tool,” he said.
“When it comes to terrorism, I think today there’s virtually no country which would say I approve of what is done or no country which would say I don’t condemn what was done,” he added.
Jaishankar said even Germany recognises India’s right to defend itself against terrorism.
He also pitched for greater cooperation between India and Europe in the Indo-Pacific.
“The Indo-Pacific has its own set of issues, security is one of them. But I would actually point to a different concept, which is how do we give countries in the Indo-Pacific more choices.”
“That if countries in the Indo-Pacific have a single choice, they’re railroaded along a certain path and they develop their dependencies,” he added.
“One part of what we are trying to do in the Indo-Pacific is to give different countries different options in various domains – telecom, digital infrastructure, space-based applications or health choices,” he said.
