Clean up your act, try to be good neighbour: Jaishankar tears into Pak in UN address

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday tore into Pakistan, saying it is the epicentre of terrorism and that it needs to clean up its act and be good to its neighbours.

Recalling Hillary Clinton’s words, Jaishankar said, “A decade ago, Hillary Clinton, during her visit to Pakistan, said that if you keep snakes in your backyard, you can’t expect them to bite only your neighbours.”

Pakistan is not good at taking his advice, the foreign minister said, adding that the world sees Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism.

“There are ministers in Pakistan who can tell how long Pakistan intends to practice terrorism. The world isn’t stupid, it increasingly calls out countries and organisations indulging in terrorism. My advice is to clean up your act and try to be a good neighbour,” Jaishankar said.

During his address, Jaishankar also told the UN Security Council that the “contemporary epicentre of terrorism” remains very much active, as he lamented that evidence-backed proposals to blacklist terrorists were put on hold without adequate reason, in a veiled attack on China and its close ally Pakistan.

Jaishankar, who presided over the ‘UNSC Briefing: Global Counterterrorism Approach: Challenges and Way Forward’, described terrorism as an existential threat to international peace and security and said it knows no borders, nationality, or race.

“The threat of terrorism has actually become even more serious. We have seen the expansion of Al-Qaida, Da’esh, Boko Haram, and Al-Shabaab and their affiliates,” he said in his address to the 15-nation Council.

Jaishankar, speaking in his national capacity, said that “at the other end of the spectrum are ‘lone wolf’ attacks inspired by online radicalisation and biases. But somewhere in all of this, we cannot forget that old habits and established networks are still alive, especially in South Asia. The contemporary epicentre of terrorism remains very much active, whatever gloss may be applied to minimise unpleasant realities.”

He was apparently referring to Pakistan, which is accused by its neighbours of harbouring terrorists and providing safe havens to several terrorist groups like al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Taliban.

Highlighting specific challenges with which the counter-terrorism architecture is currently grappling, Jaishankar stressed the need to address double standards in counter-terrorism, leading to concerns of politicisation.