"If terrorists don't follow rules then how can they be answered with rules": S Jaishankar

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that India is committed to respond to any terrorist act taking place from across the border. He also said that since terrorists never play by the rules, there cannot be rules to answer them. Attacking the then UPA government over its response to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008, he said that even after much discussion at the government level at that time, nothing resulted. As it was felt that the cost of not attacking would be higher than that of attacking Pakistan.

S Jaishankar was speaking at an event titled 'Why India Matters: Opportunities for Youth and Participation in the Global Scenario' in Pune, where he spoke. He asked the youth that if such an attack happens now and no one else If no response is given then how can such attacks be stopped in future?

Jaishankar said that there has been a change in India's foreign policy since 2014 and this is the way to deal with terrorism. When asked which are the countries with which India finds it difficult to maintain relations, he said Pakistan.

He mentioned that in 1947, Pakistan sent tribal invaders into Kashmir and the army fought them and the unification of the state took place. The Foreign Minister said, “When the Indian Army was taking its action, we stopped and went to the United Nations. We mentioned the acts of tribal invaders rather than terrorism. If our stand had been clear from the beginning that Pakistan was spreading terrorism, we would have had a completely different policy. He said that terrorism cannot be acceptable under any circumstances.