Pak uses terror as a statecraft tool: Jaishankar ‘Can’t be cricket by day, terror at night’

New York, Sept. 26: Hitting out at Pakistan, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said India cannot talk to a “very challenging” neighbour that conducts terrorism as a legitimate tool of statecraft, and follows a policy of “implausible deniability”. He also ruled out the resumption of cricketing ties, saying there cannot be a “tea break” in terrorism to play cricket with Pakistan.

“Of course everyone wants to talk to their neighbour. The issue is, how do I talk to a country that is conducting terrorism and which frankly, I would say, follows a policy of implausible deniability,” he said.

“They do it, they kind of pretend they don’t do it. They know that that pretence is not serious, but yet they do it. So, how do you address that and I think it’s a huge challenge for us,” he added.

Responding to a question on why the two countries have stopped playing ■

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Highlighting the terror attacks in Uri, Pathankot and Pulwama, he said, “If the dominant narrative of a relationship is of terrorism, suicide bombings, violence and then you say, ‘okay, guys, now tea break, let’s go and play cricket’. That’s a very hard narrative to sell to people.”

“So this is a democracy, the sentiments of people do matter. And the one message I don’t want to give is, you do terrorism by night and it’s business as usual by day. And, unfortunately, that’s the message I would give if I were to follow this one (allow cricket matches between India and Pakistan,” he said.

Addressing an event at leading think tank Council on Foreign Relations here on Wednesday, Mr Jaishankar was also asked about Kashmir and how he looks to manage New Delhi’s relationship with Islamabad.

“Well you used two key words and I would like to begin by differentiating that. One was Kashmir and other was Pakistan. And I’ll tell you why I do that. I don’t think that the fundamental issue between India and Pakistan is Kashmir. I think it’s part of the issues between us,” he said.

Referring to the terrorist attacks in India planned and conducted from across the border, Mr Jaishankar said Mumbai, which was attacked in November 2008, is a few thousand miles away from Kashmir.

“You had the abortive attack on the Indian Parliament. So I think...We should distinguish between the antipathy, the deep antipathy that the segments of Pakistan nurse towards India from coveting Kashmir. I think they are autonomous issues,” he said. The external affairs minister stressed the history of India and Pakistan was not a normal history.

Mr Jaishankar said that despite being a neighbour, Pakistan will not trade with India, is a member of the WTO but will not extend MFN status, even though they are legally obliged to and New Delhi did it.