‘Article 370 prevented progressive laws in J-K, Ladakh’: Jaishankar

Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to Singapore, made this statement while addressing the Indian community members there.

The Union minister said that by extending Article 370, two things happened which harmed India as a nation.

“One, it created an ethos of separatism, violence and terrorism. And this became a problem for the security of the entire country. Second, it prevented very progressive laws from being extended to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh at that point,” Jaishankar said.

In August 2019, the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

‘A terrorist is a terrorist in any language’

Responding to a question on how Indian officials approach sensitive and linguistically different topics with their global counterparts, Jaishankar cited the example of terrorism and said: “You can take it in any language, but a terrorist is a terrorist in any language.”

Diplomacy, different countries bring their own cultures, traditions and sometimes their language or concepts to debate, he said. “It’s also natural that there will be different viewpoints. And what diplomacy is about is to find a way of reconciling it and coming to some kind of agreement.”

However, he emphasised that there are some issues when there is no confusion. “Never allow something like terrorism to be excused or defended because they’re using a different language or a different explanation,” he added without referring to any country.

Earlier on Saturday during a Q&A session, Jaishankar also asserted that the mood in India now is not to overlook terrorism emanating from Pakistan which uses it as an “instrument of statecraft” and where terrorists are being sponsored at an “industry level”.

India-Singapore relations

During the event, Jaishankar joined about 1,500 Indian diaspora members at the screening of the Singapore-made short film on Netaji.

In the interaction that followed, Jaishankar also recapped India-Singapore relations dating back to the Indian independence struggle. He mentioned Subhas Chandra Bose, the establishment of the Indian National Army and the ‘Delhi Chalo’ call.

“He (Neta ji) remains a visible inspiration for our entire nation,” Jaishankar said.

The more India globalizes, every aspect of that will be reflected in the intensity and quality of relationships with Singapore, Jaishankar said. “As India has globalized, the two countries’ relations that began as Look East policy and then on Act East policy… has gone on to India being in the Indo-Pacific – the story in many ways actually began in Singapore,” he added.

“Singapore has been our partner in the globalization of India and that role and companionship is something that we value,” Jaishankar said, updating the Singapore-based Indian community on the accelerated pace of infrastructure development in India

Highlighting that India is “willing to take the tough course,” he said: “This is India which will not be pressured, which will state its mind. If it has to make a choice, we will make a choice for the welfare of our citizens … So, the idea is of much stronger, more capable India and willing to take the tough course,” he said.

“As more and more Indians settle in different parts of the world, it is our responsibility to secure them, to ensure their wellbeing if they are in a difficult stage, to bring them home,” he said. Ukraine and Sudan were cited as examples of where Indians were caught between the wars among others.

— With PTI inputs