Pakistan ties can’t be normal if it fails to act: Foreign Secretary

The Pathankot terror attack has once again reinforced the centrality of terrorism in India-Pakistan relations and it will be hard for India to treat the ties as normal unless Pakistan addresses the issue effectively, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar said here on Wednesday. “Until we are able to address the issue (of terrorism) effectively, obviously it is hard for us to say that the relationship is normal... This is what puts Pakistan in a different category than our other neighbours,” Mr Jaishankar said as he delivered the keynote address at a function to launch the India centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a leading American think tank.

Speculation is rife that the proposed foreign secretary-level talks are unlikely to take place in the near future unless Pakistan takes major steps to act against those on its soil who masterminded the Pathankot terror strike.

The foreign secretary, however, said that given the “challenge” of the relationship with Pakistan, India has “fared well” in keeping its focus firmly on the key issue of terrorism. “If you see the interactions, I think, one change has been the centrality of addressing the issue of terrorism to dialogue... That was reflected when the two Prime Ministers met in Ufa. It was underlined when the two NSAs met in Bangkok. If you see the reconstituted dialogue that we have, the comprehensive bilateral dialogue, the salience of terrorism (is there). Because this is not a point of argumentation. It is taking into account what is happening on the ground,” Mr Jaishankar said when asked about the Narendra Modi government’s policy towards Pakistan, particularly in the aftermath of the Pathankot attack.

Talking about India’s ties with its neighbours, Mr Jaishankar said: “Pakistan, of course, is a category by itself... But given the challenge of the relationship, we have fared well in keeping the focus firmly on the central issue of terrorism.”