India lashes out at Pak 'terror industry' at SCO

External affairs minister S Jaishankar launched a fierce attack on Pakistan on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on Friday, accusing his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of being a "justifier [and] spokesperson of a terrorism industry".

- Rezaul H Laskar

On a day when five Indian soldiers were killed in a terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir's Rajouri district, Jaishankar minced no words, saying India will counter and delegitimise cross-border terrorism and call out Pakistan's backing for it. He also lashed out at Bhutto Zardari's efforts at the meeting of SCO foreign ministers to link resumption of dialogue with restoration of Jammu & Kashmir's special status, saying the only issue up for discussion would be Islamabad vacating Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok).

"As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Mr Bhutto Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier, and I'm sorry to say, spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered, including at the SCO meeting itself," an aggressive Jaishankar told a news conference at the conclusion of the multilateral meet.

Victims and perpetrators of terror don't sit together to discuss the issue, Jaishankar said while asserting India's right to defend, counter, call out and delegitimise acts of terrorism. "That is exactly what is happening. So, to come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat - I mean they are committing acts of terrorism," he said.

While noting that he didn't want to jump the gun on the death of five soldiers in an explosion at Rajouri on Friday, Jaishankar said Pakistan's credibility in the context of terrorism is "depleting even faster than its forex reserves".

Jaishankar rubbished Bhutto Zardari's remarks at the news conference criticising the holding of a G20 meeting in Srinagar and the abrogation of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir, and said Pakistan has no locus standi on these matters.

"There is only one issue to discuss on Kashmir, which is when does Pakistan vacate its illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," he said.