External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said India desires good ties with Pakistan that are free of terror but underlined that the ball is entirely in Islamabad’s court.
”In terms of improving ties with Pakistan, like any other neighbour, we would like to have good ties. But like with any other neighbour, we would also like to have ties free of terror risk. So this has been the position of the government. We have made it very clear that it is for the Pakistani side to show that they are changing their behaviour of the past and that if they don’t, of course, there are implications for the relationship and for them. So I think the ball is very much in Pakistan’s court in this regard.” he said responding to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Regarding trade with Pakistan, the minister said some of the recent disruptions in it have happened because of the decisions by the Government of Pakistan in 2019.
Highlighting India’s ”Neighbourhood First Policy”, Mr Jaishankar said, “Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Nepal, for 17 years, there was no visit from India to Nepal. So does that mean nobody in India cared for Nepal? For Sri Lanka, for 30 years there were no bilateral visits before Prime Minister Modi went there. So visits are important, I accept it. Visits are also subject to timing, convenience, agenda”.

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“With this government in the Maldives, we have inaugurated the Adu Link road and reclamation project and I myself went for it. 28 islands were provided with water and sewage facilities and by the way, the President of Maldives was present at the oath taking ceremony of the new government,” he said.

Claiming that while he did not want to take a partisan view of the foreign policy, he said the Maldives is the same country which drove out Indian companies for an important project in 2012. The same Sri Lanka was the place where the Hambantota Port was built by the Chinese in 2008.The same Bangladesh was giving support to terrorism till 2014, he added.
“So if one looks today at the developmental projects, they require both sides to cooperate. If one looks today at the number of projects, volume of trade, the exchanges that are taking place, the answer is very clear. Our neighbours also have their politics, they have ups and downs in their countries. It will have some implications for us but it is important that we are mature and don’t get into point scoring”, the minister said.

He also asserted that Indian forces would continue to patrol in Eastern Ladakh. ”I gave a very detailed statement on the disengagement and recent developments in the India China border areas. In that statement, I highlighted that the last of the disengagement agreements had taken place which pertains to Depsang and Demchok. I also would like to convey to the Honorable Member that it was in the statement as well that the understanding envisages that Indian security forces would be going to all the patrolling points in Depsang and would be going to the eastward limit which has historically been our patrolling limit in that part,” he said.