Jaishankar's veiled dig at Pak: 'Difficult to engage with a neighbour who...'

In a veiled dig at Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that it is very difficult to engage with a neighbour, who practices cross-border terrorism against India.

Jaishankar slammed Pakistan without naming it during a joint press conference with the Foreign Minister of Panama, Janaina Tewaney Mencomo.

Photo Credit: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

"It is very difficult for us to engage with a neighbour who practices cross-border terrorism against us", Jaishankar was quoted saying by ANI.

"We have always said that they have to deliver on the commitment to not sponsor and carry out cross-border terrorism," he added.

The statement comes ahead of Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's visit to India for the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) summit in May in Goa.

The relations between Pakistan and India have suffered a series of blows due to several terror attacks, starting with the 26/11 Mumbai attack of 2008, the 2016 Pathankot terror attack, the Uri strike, and Pulwama in 2019, as well as due to the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370.

The Pakistan foreign minister's visit to India will be the first such trip from Islamabad in many years. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India that year.

In May 2014, then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-inceremony.

Subsequently, in December 2015, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan, and days later Modi made a brief visit to that country.

with PTI inputs