It’ll come back to haunt you: EAM warns West over terrorism by Pak

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has reiterated Pakistan’s deep links with terrorism, questioning why a dreaded terrorist like Osama bin Laden felt safe in the country for many years.

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He also criticised the silence of Western nations when Pakistan violated Indian borders in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947.

In an interview to European news platform Euractiv, Jaishankar said the four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan wasn’t merely a bilateral issue but part of a broader problem rooted in terrorism. The minister is currently in Brussels to meet European Union (EU) leaders in the wake of renewed military tensions between India and Pakistan.

“I want the world to understand — this isn’t merely an India-Pakistan issue. It’s about terrorism. And that very same terrorism will eventually come back to haunt you,” Jaishankar said, criticising the international media for framing Operation Sindoor as a tit-for-tat between two nuclear-armed neighbours.

He also recalled the 2011 killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces in Pakistan’s Abbottabad.

“Let me remind you of something – there was a man named Osama bin Laden. Why did he, of all people, feel safe living for years in a Pakistani military town, right next to their equivalent of West Point?” he asked.

The revelation that the world’s most wanted terrorist had been living undetected in a high-walled compound just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy deeply embarrassed the Pakistani establishment and triggered global criticism over its alleged covert support for militant groups.

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Jaishankar also pointed to the historical context of the India-Pakistan conflict.

“India has the longest-standing grievance — our borders were violated just months after independence, when Pakistan sent in invaders to Kashmir. And the countries that were most supportive of that? Western countries,” he said.

He noted that the same countries, which were “evasive or reticent” back then, are now invoking “international principles” in global disputes.

On India’s position regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Jaishankar defended New Delhi’s decision not to join Western sanctions against Moscow.

“It’s not for us to prescribe what that solution should be. My point is, we’re not being prescriptive or judgmental — but we are also not uninvolved,” he said.

He added that India had a strong relationship with Ukraine as well, and its stance was based on its own history, experience and interests.