Relevant ‘T’ word is terrorism: India hits back at Pak’s ‘two to tango’ remark​on January 3, 2025 at 12:24 pm

Relevant ‘T’ word is terrorism: India hits back at Pak’s ‘two to tango’ remark

​Relevant ‘T’ word is terrorism: India hits back at Pak’s ‘two to tango’ remark Relevant ‘T’ word is terrorism: India hits back at Pak’s ‘two to tango’ remark   

India took a “terrorism” jibe at Pakistan a day after the neighbouring country’s Foreign Minister put the ball in New Delhi’s court to improve ties with Islamabad, saying “it takes two to tango”. Trade ties between the two countries have been suspended since 2019 and Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic relations with India following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The relevant ‘T’ word here is terrorism, not tango,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in his weekly briefing, said.

The MEA’s reaction comes a day after Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the onus on improving trade ties cannot be one way. Dar said there was a need to create an environment to help improve the relations.

“Afghanistan is our brother. We want strong ties. With India, it takes two to tango. If there’s goodwill, we are ready for trade,” Dar said.

The Pakistani minister’s remarks came amid a deterioration of bilateral relations with Afghanistan, with the Pakistani military conducting air strikes inside the country this week. Afghanistan responded by targeting posts inside Pakistan.

The suspension of trade with India has severely impacted Pakistan, with the country having to import goods from faraway countries, further depleting its foreign exchange reserves. High inflation and political instability have also left Pakistan’s economy in dire straits.

It has left Pakistan to rely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or friendly countries like China for loans to meet its needs.

India has repeatedly underscored that “terror and talks” cannot go together and asked Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorist activities.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has termed cross-border terrorism, extremism and separatism as the “three evils” hindering trade and people-to-people relations between the countries.

Last year, Jaishankar visited Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the first by any Indian minister in a decade. The visit was seen as the first step towards sending out a positive signal for a possible thaw in ties.