'Want good ties but Pak must end terror'

India desires relations "free of terrorism" with Pakistan and hopes that its ties with Bangladesh will "settle down to a mutually beneficial and stable relationship", external affairs minister S Jaishankar said in Parliament on Friday, as he also cautioned against "point-scoring" over the state of India's diplomatic relations.

The minister was responding to Lok Sabha members during question hour.

He said the government hopes its ties with Dhaka will "settle down to a mutually beneficial and stable relationship" under the new dispensation led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and that it would like to have good ties with all neighbours, including Pakistan.

"But like with any other neighbour, we would also like to have ties free of terrorism. This has been the position of the government," he said while responding to a query from BJP lawmaker Naveen Jindal on what the government would do to improve bilateral relations and trade with Pakistan.

"We have made it very clear that it is for the Pakistani side to show that they are changing their behaviour of the past. That if they don't, of course, there are implications for the relationship and for them," he said. "I think the ball is very much in Pakistan's court in this regard."

There were disruptions in trade because of decisions made by the Pakistan government in 2019, Jaishankar said. "It is a matter on which they took the initiative, and we have an agnostic position on this," he said.

He was referring to Pakistan's decision to snap trade relations in August 2019 in response to the Indian government's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divide the state into two union territories. At the time, Pakistan also decided against posting a high commissioner in New Delhi and downgraded diplomatic ties.

The two countries have not held any substantive and sustained dialogue since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which were carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Pulwama suicide bombing in February 2019, which killed 40 Indian troopers and was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jaishe-Mohammed, brought the two countries to the brink of war.

India has consistently said the improvement of bilateral ties is linked to Pakistan ending its support for cross-border terrorism.