External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Took Sharp Dig At Pakistan, Says India Has Right To Defend Itself Against Neighbors Supporting Terrorism
New Delhi : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday took a sharp dig at Pakistan, saying India has a “bad neighbour” that persistently backs terrorism and that New Delhi has every right to defend itself against such threats. Jaishankar said India would exercise its right to protect its security and national interests and would not accept external prescriptions on how it should respond to terrorism.
But when it comes to bad neighbours who persist with terrorism, India has every right to defend its people and will do whatever is necessary. The External Affairs Minister underlined that India’s response to terrorism would be decided solely by New Delhi. “How we exercise that right is up to us. Nobody can tell us what we should or should not do. We will do whatever we have to do to defend ourselves,” he said.
Jaishankar said countries can have difficult neighbours, but India’s situation was aggravated by the deliberate and sustained use of terrorism as a state policy. If a country decides that it will deliberately, persistently and unrepentantly continue with terrorism, we have a right to defend our people against terrorism. We will exercise that right, he said.
He also linked the issue of cross-border terrorism to broader bilateral obligations, including water-sharing arrangements. Noting that India had entered into water-sharing agreements decades ago, Jaishankar said such cooperation presupposes good neighbourly relations. Many years ago, we agreed to a water-sharing arrangement, but if you have decades of terrorism, there is no good neighbourliness.
The already thorny relationship between India and Pakistan hit a new low after Pakistan-backed terrorists killed several tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April 2025. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty was among a series of punitive measures New Delhi took against Islamabad following the massacre.
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