India to look for mutuality with Bangladesh, says Jaishankar
Image credit X.com @drsjaishankar
Jaishankar says India must be lifting tide for neighbours with exceptions
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 30: External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday said that India will look for mutuality with Bangladesh. Jaishankar said that “we have to adjust with political changes which can be disruptive and organic”.
Suggesting a template for the neighbouring countries, Jaishankar said that India could be part of the shelter stock for them amid global instability. Jaishankar referred to the Sri Lankan collapse of finance.
“Entire neighbourhood is a conundrum. The politics in the neighbourhood wants to drag India when it suits them,” said Jaishankar.
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Jaishankar was speaking at the book launch of former diplomat Rajiv Sikri. He dwelt at length on Bangladesh in his address at the book launch.
“The people ask whether we saw it (change of government) coming or no. Of course, we saw it coming. We have to adjust to the disruptive and the organic changes,” said Jaishankar.
He said that “it’s natural that we will deal the government of the day in Bangladesh”. “There are political changes and we will look for mutuality of interests,” added Jaishankar.
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Speaking on neighbourhood, Jaishankar said that “the era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan is over”. His remark came amid Pakistan inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in October.
“Actions have consequences. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, I think (Article) 370 is done,” added Jaishankar.
He said that the “issue today is what kind of relationship can we possibly contemplate with Pakistan? What I do want to say is we are not passive and whether events take a positive or a negative direction, either way, we will react to it”.
He was reacting to Sikri’s claim in the book that “India is content to maintain current state of relations with Pakistan”.
Jaishankar said that India has strong people to people ties with Afghanistan. “We have strong ties at societal level. But the basic statecraft should not be forgotten,” added Jaishankar.
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He said that “we are clear eyed about our interests (with Afghanistan)”. “We are not confused about inherited challenges in Afghanistan. The issue of presence of America in Afghanistan is different than without America,” added Jaishankar.
Speaking on Myanmar, Jaishankar said that the context is the Northeast, while the country is both remote and relevant. “We have to find balance between government and other stakeholders,” said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar spoke highly of relations with Sri Lanka on the occasion. “This is one relationship where the Modi government had difficult inheritance. The challenge was how to reassure without diluting our interests,” said Jaishankar.
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