External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said India will focus on de-escalation once the disengagement agreement between India and China to end the military stand-off in eastern Ladakh is fully implemented.

“India and China on October 21 reached a disengagement agreement whereby soldiers belonging to both the countries will resume patrolling as they did before the 2020 border face-off. The agreement is anticipated to ease patrolling in the Depsang and Demchok areas where patrolling will be restored. However, for implementation of this agreement, it will need some time,” he said at a press conference in Mumbai.

He further said the next level is de-escalation and the third larger issue is how to manage the border and how to negotiate the boundary settlement.

In response to a question, Dr Jaishankar said India has emerged as a leader in fighting terrorism under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Further, amid tense global scenarios and ongoing Iran-Israel and Ukraine-Russia war, he said that India is ready to provide all possible support in the times to come.
As far as terrorism is concerned, India has adopted a zero tolerance policy, he asserted.

“I am in Mumbai which has become a counter terrorism centre for the country and for the world especially after the 26/11 terror attacks. The UNSC’s Counter Terrorism Council Summit was recently held in Mumbai and in the same hotel which was attacked by the terrorists. We have to be very clear. We say zero tolerance for terrorism and we should not have a repeat about what happened in Mumbai. It cannot be day time doing business and nighttime terrorism… this will not be accepted. We will expose terrorism and then we will act,’’ he said.

On the Kashmir issue, Dr Jaishankar said, “We have been very clear that there is cross border terrorism… we have felt that there are many ways to deal with the issue. When Assembly elections were held, voter’s turnout was more than 60 per cent and it was a big statement considering the people’s response. Who wins is a secondary part. India won that day, that many people put their faith in the government’s move to scrap article 370 and remove the hold of separatist policy.”

The minister said that he went to Pakistan recently with a clear message that India would not compromise on its zero tolerance policy.

On the issue of entry of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said the government’s focus is to tighten the border security.

Dr Jaishankar strongly pitched for a double engine government to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal.

“For Viksit Bharat, Viksit Maharashtra is necessary. Maharashtra is the most industrialised with a long history. There are factories, technology, research, quality of people, environment but there are new possibilities. With the implementation of Centre’s India Middle East Economic Corridor initiative, Maharashtra will benefit a lot with investors investing in ports, logistics, roads and railways. Investors are interested to invest in the state,’’ he added.
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