‘Snakes in your backyard’, Pak ‘epicentre of terrorism’: Jaishankar’s top quotes at UNSC

During these two days, Jaishankar’s statements on terrorism in South Asia, and his attack on China and Pakistan grabbed national headlines. Here are the top quotes from his media addresses and speeches made during the high-level ministerial events:

Veiled attack on China Pakistan: “On the challenge of terrorism, even as the world is coming together with a more collective response, multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators.”

In this veiled attack on China and its ally Pakistan on Wednesday, he appears to be referring to the repeated holds and blocks on proposals to blacklist terrorists, specifically those based in Pakistan such as Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

While discussing the effectiveness of multilateral institutions which have existed for more than 75 years, Jaishankar continued, “The question before us is how best they (multilateral platforms) can be reformed, particularly as the need to reform is less deniable with each passing year.”

Jaishankar, while addressing reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, slammed Pakistan for being the “epicentre” of terrorism.

Pakistan, the epicentre of terrorism: “The world today sees them (Pakistan) as the epicentre of terrorism. Now I know we have been through two-and-a-half years of Covid and a lot of us have brain fog as a result. But I assure you the world has not forgotten where does terrorism (emanate), who has their fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond the region.”

Stern reply to Pak journalist: The minister also hit back at a Pakistani journalist who asked him how long will South Asia continue to terrorism disseminating from New Delhi, Kabul and Pakistan. Almost trying to stop the journalist mid-way, the Minister responded: “You know, you are asking the wrong minister when you say how long will we do this? Because it is the ministers of Pakistan who will tell you how long Pakistan intends to practice terrorism.”

“At the end of the day, the world is not stupid, the world is not forgetful. And the world does increasingly call out countries and organisations and people who indulge in terrorism.”

“You [Pakistan] are not going to confuse anybody anymore. People have figured it out. So, my advice is please clean up your act. Please try to be a good neighbour.”

Response to Hina Rabbani Khar’s remark: Answering a question on Pakistan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar’s recent allegation that “no country had used terrorism better than India,” Jaishankar invoked former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan and her address to a joint news conference in 2011 with Khar. “I saw, I read the reports on what minister Khar said. And I was reminded … Standing next to her [Khar], Hillary Clinton actually said that if you have… snakes in your backyard, you can’t expect them to bite only your neighbours. Eventually, they will bite the people who keep them in the backyard. But as you know, Pakistan is not great at taking good advice. You see what is happening there.”

The diplomatic spat by the Minister ended with him advising Pakistan to contribute towards “economic growth, and progress and development.”

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