'Need to be non-dogmatic and self-critical on policymaking considering the changing world order'. 'We have actually seen sharp shifts in the basic stance and behaviour of nations and their interplay with each other'. 'Adequately securitising foreign policy is for me the absolute imperative'

New Delhi: Adequately securitising foreign policy is crucial for a nation like India, said External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.

Calling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism a “very unique challenge” that India has been facing for years, the EAM said that there are really very few major states which still have unsettled borders like India.

Intense terrorism inflicted on India by Pakistan is of equal relevance, he said.

'Global Order Evolving With Many Dimensions And Variables'

“We also cannot disregard attempts of undermining our national integrity and unity and over and above these exceptional challenges; there are the daily security challenges of long borders and large sea spaces,” he added.

Calling multilateralism and global issues equally important, Jaishankar said it can never come at cost of India’s core national interests.

Speaking at the virtual summit of Second Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture the EAM also stressed the need to be non-dogmatic and self-critical on policymaking considering the changing world order.

With global order evolving with many dimensions and variables, there is a need to be non-dogmatic and self-critical in policy-making.

A diplomat-turned-politician, Jaishankar also said that there have been sharp shifts in the basic stance and behaviour of nations and their interplay with each.

India Facing A Two-Front Threat From Pak And China

Giving examples of the salience of China and repositioning of the U.S. he said that some of these have unfolded more visibly in the last year, but their contours were evident even before.

He further laid stress on practical and outcome-oriented decisions with strategic clarity in assessing the present world. On Saturday, the EAM said that India was being tested in the seven-month-long border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.

Expressing confidence that the country will meet the national security challenge, Jaishankar termed the “events” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh “very disturbing”.