We have made clear to Pakistan that talks, terror cannot go together: Jaishankar
Dec 18, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 18 : The Narendra Modi government has shown a lot of clarity that Pakistan cannot continue cross-border terrorism and then expect diplomacy to carry on, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.
The minister was answering a query during a discussion after launching the book 'Reporting India: My Seventy-Year Journey as a Journalist' by ANI Chairman Prem Prakash.
"As far as PM Modi is concerned, we have shown a lot of clarity that they (Pakistan) can't continue cross-border terrorism and then expect diplomacy to carry on," he said.
In his opening remarks, Jaishankar said that the book is pretty much history of India from a foreign policy perspective for half-a-century and the domestic aspects of the author's journalistic work are no less interesting.
"He was present at all the key moment of our nations. His interviews in many cases have themselves played a part in our history," he said.
The minister said the impressions and comments make an engrossing flow which the younger generation "less convergent with era would value very much".
The minister said he was particularly taken in by how the author defined his own ambition early in his life to shape the image of India.
"In a different way, that has also been my ambition in life. I can say from my perspective that the country has gained enormously from his efforts," he said.
The minister said that the author's 75-year journey is "one of memorable moments of unique experience and a great accomplishment".
He said the author was present at "all the key moments" of the country's history and his interviews in many cases have themselves played a part in the history.
Jaishankar noted that he was in the university during Emergency but was familiar with the press.
"Naturally, as a journalist, the chapter on Emergency is very personal and very passionate. I can tell as someone who was at university at that time but was familiar with the press, this is a chapter in account with which I can readily identify. The cumulative pictures of Prem Prakashji is a great record or our times. Clearly being at the right place at the right time is not an accident. He gives us how hard one has to work to make that happen," the minister said.
"I was also struck by the singular absence of post-partition nostalgia that one would have expected from someone of his generation. I only wish there were more like him," he added.
The launch of the book through video conferencing was followed by a question-answer session.
The 225-page book has been published by Penguin India and is also available on Amazon and Flipkart.
