Very difficult to engage with neighbour who practices cross-border terror: India's Jaishankar

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that it is "very difficult" to engage with a neighbour who practices cross-border terrorism. Jaishankar's remarks came during a joint press briefing with Janaina Tewaney, the foreign minister of Panama, in Panama City.

Jaishankar on Monday arrived in Panama City for a two-day visit and was received by Panama's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Francos. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Jaishankar wrote, "Arrived in Panama City. Thank Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs @VladimirFrancoS for the warm reception. Look forward to a packed bilateral and multilateral agenda."

Meanwhile, on Pakistan, Jaishankar said: "We've always said that they have to deliver on the commitment to not sponsor and carry out cross-border terrorism. We continue to hope that one day we would reach that stage."

The foreign minister's remark is extremely crucial ahead of Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto's visit to the Indian state of Goa for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) FMs meeting on May 4-5. The SCO is an eight-member political and security bloc that includes Russia and China.

The visit will be the first trip to India by a top Pakistani minister since then prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in in 2014. India for years has claimed that Pakistan helps Islamist separatists who have attacked Indian security forces in various regions, mostly in Kashmir.

A bilateral visit took place in 2015 when PM Modi made an unexpected detour to Lahore, but India-Pakistan relations dipped within a month of the visit over the terror attack at the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, which deteriorated further after India's reaction to the attack - the "surgical strikes" - in 2016.

The Imran Khan government took several drastic steps, like recalling ambassadors to cutting off trade ties, after the abrogation of Article 370 that changed the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Watch Jaishankar's comments:

Jaishankar and Panama's Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney held a joint press conference on Monday after holding discussions on several bilateral issues related to health and trade. Addressing the joint briefing, Jaishankar said India and Panama discussed what can be done to expand the cooperation and how Indian Pharmaceuticals can be brought to Panama.

Jaishankar said, "In the last three years, Indian pharmacy has made a change in the world. In Covid we supplied vaccines, and we exported medicines to most of the developed world. Covid has taught us not to be dependent on very limited centres of production, on supply chains that can be disrupted so it is very important that there are more regional capacities, it is particularly important in health. It is not just trading, as research goes into it, we discussed how we can bring Indian pharmaceuticals to India," the EAM added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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