The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took exception to “hyphenate” India with Pakistan after abrogation of Article 370 on Monday, said it is being done by those who are obsessed with the post-August 5 developments in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that he has a “very little tolerance” for that.

Currently on a three-day trip to Washington DC, Jaishankar was answering to some Indian journalists, virtually taking exceptions to India and Pakistan being talked of in the same breath.

Jaishankar said, “You are really being very semantic about it. How do you hyphenate a country, which is one-eighth of your economic size… which is reputationally your exact opposite.”

He further said, “By that logic then, India should not do anything which would bring Pakistan into the conversation at all”.

“So, let’s not talk Afghanistan. In fact, let’s not talk South Asia. So, my sense is people are over obsessed about it,” he said.

“Often the argumentation comes from people who have a viewpoint that we shouldn’t have done anything about (Article) 370,” Jaishankar said.

Last month also, Jaishankar had asked how does one talk to Pakistan, which uses terrorism as a “large scale industry against its neighbour” and then follows a policy of “implausible deniability”, adding that it “cannot be terrorism by night and business as usual by day”.

India is leaving no stone unturned to thwart attempts by Pakistan to internationalise the Kashmir issue at all the international forums be it at the UN or any other forum.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.

After the abolition of the special status of J&K, New Delhi has launched a major diplomatic campaign in support of its action, while calling it an internal matter of India. Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has been telling the world that the abolition of the special status of J&K and its bifurcation into two Union Territories was aimed at ensuring all-round economic progress and social development there.

Since the abrogation of Article 370, PM Narendra Modi had held bilateral meetings with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the leaders of Islamic nations like the UAE and Bahrain and explained to them the rationale behind India’s move in J&K.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had also toured a number of countries to convey India’s point of view. Jaishankar and his key aides in the ministry have personally met or spoken on the phone to almost all the members of the UNHRC, which comprises 47 nations.

Tensions have been simmering between India and Pakistan ever since the ruling party on August 5 revoked Article 370 of its Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.