S Jaishankar: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said just as the Pandavas could not choose their relatives, India cannot choose its geographical neighbours. He was talking about the relationship between India and Pakistan at the launch of Bharat Marg, the Marathi translation of his book The India Way.
During the question-answer session, Jaishankar was asked, if “a neighbour and rogue nation (Pakistan), who happens to be nuclear power, will be an asset or a liability. He replied, “It is a reality to us … Pandavas could not choose their relatives, we can’t choose our neighbours. Naturally, we hope good sense prevails…In diplomacy, it is important to be hopeful.”
‘IWT a technical matter’
He also spoke on the Indus Water Treaty terming it a technical matter. He said it will be inappropriate for him to speak publicly on what is happening in Pakistan. “This is a technical matter, Indus Commissioners of both countries will talk about the Indus Water Treaty. We can only discuss our future steps after that,” he said.
On the topic of terrorism, Jaishankar said no nation has suffered from the menace as much as India due to the “neighbour we have”, an apparent reference to Pakistan. He talked about the surgical strikes in Pulwama and Uri and called them “decisive action”.
‘China may become a superpower’
The EAM also spoke about China and said it is India’s only neighbour which is a global power and may become a superpower in the years to come. “It is obvious there are challenges when we have such a neighbour. How to manage China is one chapter in my book. I have also written about how Japan will benefit us. After Partition, the nation faced limits but now our influence is right up to the Pacific Ocean,” he said.
He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making him the External Affairs Minister. “Being the foreign secretary was the limit of my ambition, never even dreamt of becoming a minister” said Jaishankar. He further said, “not sure any PM other than Narendra Modi would have made me minister.”
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