Root cause of India-Pak conflict remains unchanged: Jaishankar

A month into the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the root cause of the conflict – Pakistan’s support to terrorism – remains unchanged. He warned the western neighbour of ‘retaliation’ if cross-border terrorism continues.

The skirmish between the two nuclear armed neighbours stopped on May 10 only after eight of Pakistan’s main airfields were hit and disabled by the Indian Air Force (IAF), said Jaishankar, who is in Europe. He gave separate interviews to media houses, Le Figaro and Politico.

In his interview to Politico, he said "It (Pakistan) is a country very steeped in its use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. On being asked if conditions that led to the outbreak of war last month were still in place, Jaishankar said, “If you call the commitment (of Pak) to terrorism, as a source for the tension, absolutely, it is.”

Pakistan was training thousands of terrorists in the open and unleashing them, the minister said.

He warned Pakistan that India is not going to live with it. “Our message to them is that if you continue to do the kind of barbaric acts which they did in April (Pahalgam attack), then there is going to be retribution, and that retribution will be against the terror organisations and the terrorist leadership."

"And we don't care where they are. If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan," he added.

Answering about the Kashmir dispute to Le Figaro, Jaishankar said, “This is not a dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir — we simply have zero tolerance for terrorism. And if terrorists attack India, we will hunt them down wherever they are, including in Pakistan.”

India has been very clear: “As long as cross-border terrorism continues, we will retaliate and take all measures necessary for our self-defence.” Pakistan, he said harbours and supports terrorists (from Lashkar-e-Taiba and others). “The conflict is between India and terrorism, not with a specific country,” Jaishankar added.

Politico reported, when pressed to clarify what had happened, Jaishankar didn't deny the destruction of IAF planes, but said the appropriate authorities would communicate on the matter when ready. India's fighter planes and missiles had inflicted far more extensive damage on the Pakistani Air Force than vice versa, forcing Pakistan to sue for peace.

"As far I'm concerned, how effective the Rafale was or frankly, how effective other systems were — to me the proof of the pudding are the destroyed and disabled airfields on the Pakistani side," he said. "The fighting stopped on the May 10 for one reason and one reason only — which was — we hit the main eight Pakistani airfields and disabled them."

On being asked by Le Figaro if he could foresee an improvement in India’s relations with Beijing, Jaishankar said, “Our relations have gone through a difficult period since the 2020 military clash in the Himalayas.”

The Minister said that the key question for India was “how do we ensure peace and stability in the border areas? Without that, everything else is affected. I believe both sides think relations can improve step by step.”