New Delhi, May 15: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday reaffirmed that India’s engagement with Pakistan will remain limited to bilateral terms, asserting that there has been “absolutely no change” in the longstanding national consensus on the issue.
“Our dealings with Pakistan will be bilateral—and strictly bilateral. That has been the national consensus for many years,” Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi, reiterating that New Delhi will not entertain any third-party involvement in its diplomatic framework with Islamabad. “Let me take this opportunity to spell out our position clearly,” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event, Jaishankar also pointed to the recent United Nations Security Council statement calling for accountability in the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists. He said the perpetrators were dealt with decisively.
“The UN Security Council underlined the need to hold the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack accountable. And on the morning of May 7, we held them accountable through Operation Sindoor,” he said, referring to India’s cross-border precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure.
Following the May 7 strikes, Pakistan launched retaliatory attempts to hit Indian military installations on May 8, 9 and 10. According to Indian officials, those attacks were swiftly countered. The escalation came to a halt after military commanders from both sides—through their Directors General of Military Operations—agreed on May 10 to stop further military action.
Jaishankar reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a firm position on the issue of terror, and that any diplomatic engagement with Pakistan must center on that concern alone.
“Prime Minister Modi has made it very clear—if there are talks, they will be about terrorism,” he said. “Pakistan has a list of terrorists who need to be handed over. They have to shut down terrorist infrastructure. They know what to do.”
Asked about the Kashmir dispute, the external affairs minister responded firmly, drawing a line under New Delhi’s stance.
“The only thing that remains to be discussed on Kashmir is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. We are open to discussing that with Pakistan,” he said. “The government’s position is very, very clear.”
Jaishankar’s remarks come amid a renewed push by India to isolate cross-border terrorism while reinforcing its position on bilateralism in regional diplomacy.
