New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that SAARC is not moving forward as one member, meaning Pakistan, has been practising terrorism against another member, India, and therefore holding meetings under the regional forum would mean acceptance of terrorism as a legitimate tool of statecraft.
Answering a question on Saarc, at a time when Pakistan and Bangladesh’s Interim Government have been actively discussing about reviving Saarc, the EAM said that India decided that terrorism is not acceptable and that there must be a cost to it.
His comments also come ahead of his visit to Islamabad on October 15 and 16 to attend the SCO Summit.
“At the moment Saarc is not moving forward. We’ve not had a meeting of Saarc for a very simple reason – that there is one member of Saarc who is practising cross-border terrorism at least against one more member of Saarc, maybe more. If you are all sitting together and cooperating and at the same time this kind of terrorism goes on so openly, it actually poses a challenge for us — that do you ignore it and go ahead, in which case you are normalising it and accepting that this is a legitimate tool of statecraft.
“And I think at some point we came to the decision that we should not do it; that terrorism is something that is unacceptable, and despite a global view of it if one of our neighbours continues to do there must be a cost to it.
“It cannot be business as usual in the Saarc; and that is the reason why Saarc meetings have not happened in recent years. I want to make an equally important point – because Saarc has not happened does not mean regional activities has stopped,” he said, adding that there has been far more regional integration in the Indian subcontinent than has happened since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
He cited the cross-border agreements between India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and with Myanmar and Sri Lanka, for export and import of power, or oil pipelines, for connectivity and also medical visas.
“So, I actually would say that what is happening in the neighbourhood and its happening because we are espousing this policy called Neighbourhood First.”
He said that Neighbourhood First policy means that India as the biggest country in the region must put in the maximum resources.