According to Jaishankar, the proximity that gave rise to India and Pakistan’s rivalry is now costing India dearly.

The fact that we have actually corrected a basic error that was made in 1947 and for which Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee battled so hard in his own lifetime to right is the first thing to recognise and to continually get into the consciousness of the entire nation, Jaishankar added.

Notably, Syama Prasad Mukherjee was a politician from India who served in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet as the nation’s first Minister for Industry and Supply.

Jaishankar continued, “The point I was trying to make is that if you leave open such a weakness in a competitive world, others are going to exploit it. We permitted a contiguity to grow between actually two antagonistic nations by allowing Pakistan to occupy Kashmir, and that is now hurting us as well.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting cannot take place in India until one of its members stops committing terrorist acts, according to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who also implied that India will not tolerate a situation in which “terrorism happens by night and trade happens by day.”

Jaishankar has already called Pakistan the “epicentre of terrorism” on numerous occasions.

Meanwhile, India had reaffirmed its desire for cordial neighbourly ties with Pakistan.

India has consistently argued that the two nations’ issues should be settled bilaterally and amicably, without the use of terror or violence.

Pakistan is responsible for fostering such an environment. Pakistan continues to support cross-border terrorism against India, obstruct normal trade, connectivity, and inter-personal interactions, and spread false information to defame India.

“India, as a result of proactive outreach with the international community, successfully thwarted Pakistan’s misleading attempts to present an alarmist picture of the situation in the region and interfere in the internal affairs of India,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in its annual report.