S Jaishankar Dismisses Pakistan, Says No Point 'Wasting Precious Time'

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, during an open session at Charotar University of Science and Technology on Tuesday, revealed the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks were the turning point in India's Pakistan policy, creating a national consensus that such gestures from an across-the-border country were unacceptable.

Looking back on the last ten years of India's development, Jaishankar attributed the transformation to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and contrasted it with a sharp dependence by Pakistan on archaic, destabilizing tactics.

"India has changed. I wish I could say the same about Pakistan," he stated. "Unfortunately, in lots of ways, they're carrying on their bad habits.

When asked why New Delhi does not mention Pakistan openly these days, Jaishankar didn't hesitate: "There is no need to waste precious time on them."

He remembered the people's mood after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, remarking, "I think that was when the Indian public, cutting across party lines, said this is too much. People felt that the country cannot accept this kind of behaviour from a neighbour."

As Jaishankar put it, that popular sentiment was not entirely recognized by the government at the time. But from 2014 onwards, the new government indicated that terrorism would have a price to pay.

Since then, India's international standing has increased—economically, diplomatically, and politically—while Pakistan, he said, is still playing the old script. He also criticized Pakistan's behavior during the US-led occupation of Afghanistan.

"They were playing both sides—a game of supporting the Taliban and simultaneously talking to the West," he said. "But as soon as the Americans withdrew, the double game fell apart. Whatever short-term advantages they gained evaporated also. Badly, the very terror infrastructure they constructed turned on them."

Jaishankar's comments provide a sharp analysis of neighbourhood diplomacy, reaffirming India's hardline approach to cross-border terrorism and highlighting the strategic realignment in the way the nation approaches its western neighbour.