Jaishankar in Cyprus: "India will never allow terrorism to force us to the negotiating table"

New Delhi, Dec 31: In a veiled attack on Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday (Dec 30) said that terrorism cannot be used as a tool to force India on the "negotiating table".

 

 

 

 

While interacting with the Indian diaspora in Cyprus, without mentioning Pakistan, Jaishankar said, "We will never normalize it. We will never allow terrorism to force us to the negotiating table. We want good neighbourly relations with everybody. But good neighbourly relations do not mean excusing or looking away or rationalizing terrorism. That we are very clear."

 

 

 

 

 

"The second, of course, is our borders. And we have challenges on our borders. The challenges on the borders intensified during the COVID period. And you all know that today the state of our relations with China is not normal. They are not normal because we will not agree to any attempt to change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) unilaterally. So on the foreign policy side, on the national security side, I can share with you a picture of firmness on diplomacy, on foreign policy, because that is something which I am," he added.

 

 

Talking about the expectations from India, Jaishankar said that there are lots of expectations as New Delhi is seen as the one that solves problems. He further added that India is seen as a country with a strong economy and an independent nation. India is negotiating 3 agreements with Cyprus - defence operations cooperation, migration and mobility agreement to facilitate legal movement of people of both the countries and agreement on International Solar Alliance, Jaishankar said.