Kolkata: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that it is not in India's interest that the country normalizes terrorism by carrying on with the relationship as usual and stressed that this message has been sent "loud and clear."

In his address at 'Syama Prasad Lecture, New India and the World' in Kolkata, EAM Jaishankar said, "We have seen that unfold over the last 9 years in our variety of ways. To begin with this means taking a clear-cut position on the unacceptability of terrorism. It is obviously not in our national interest that we normalize terrorism by carrying on with the rest of the relationship as usual. That message has been sent loud and clear."

He called it important to mobilize the international community through advocacy and awareness creation and added that only then can India be successful in delegitimizing terrorism. He said that there is a widespread understanding in the world that terrorism is not a threat to India alone and stressed that the UN Security Council's counter-terrorism committee meeting at 26/11 site in Mumbai was a statement of no small significance.

"Where egregious actions of cross-border terrorism are concerned, the operations at Uri and Balakota are as much a shift in our thinking as in our actions. But, it is also important to mobilize the international community through advocacy and awareness creation. Only then can we be successful in delegitimizing terrorism," Jaishankar said.

"As a result of our persistent efforts, there is widespread understanding today that this is not a threat to India alone, that the UN Security Council's counter-terrorism committee held a meeting at a 26/11 site in Mumbai was a statement of no small significance. It is also our endeavour to get global platforms and conferences whether we speak at the G20, which is we are in the middle of or meetings like no money for terror or bilateral and plurilateral mechanisms, and you saw that at recent US visit or the Quad statement to keep the spotlight strongly on such threats. The listing process created by the UN Security Council 1267 sanction and there are no prizes for guessing which country features prominently in it, he added.

Jaishankar called it essential that we reflect on the judgements made by Syama Prasad Mukherjee decreed to us. He noted that India and Pakistan for decades uttered in the same breath and their differences made to look like a natural agenda left over from the partition.

He said that there was also a time when the military regime of neighbouring nation was considered as an example of development and stressed that the 1971 outcome changed the narrative. He said that Pakistan kept trying to create an artificial balance and received the support of China and Western nations.

"So, in 2023, 7 decades after these insights on Pakistan, it is essential that we reflect on the judgements that Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee decreed to us. This is all the more so as the equivalence between India and Pakistan. That was so troubling even in the initial years after independence, morphed into a larger hyphenation. For decades, India and Pakistan were uttered in the same breath and their differences made to look like a natural agenda left over from the partition," Jaishnkar said.

"There were even periods when the military regime in our neighbouring country was held out as an example of development. The 1971 outcome obviously change much of this, but not as decisively as we would have hoped. Pakistan kept trying to create an artificial balance and was actively supported in that endeavour by both China and Western nations. This even went to the extent of assisting and facilitating its nuclear and missile programs. And worse too, Pakistan increasingly resorted to cross-border terrorism to bring India to the table. But, if truth be told, our own policies were not sufficiently robust to firmly discourage this approach. Instead of confronting the cross-border nature of terrorism squarely because it was emanating from Pakistan, we even briefly appeared to be open to a narrative that suggested that both India and Pakistan were victims of terrorism," he added.