New Delhi, Feb 26 (UNI) India is responding to rising cross-border terrorism on the western front with “determination and fortitude”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
Addressing the inaugural Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru memorial lectures 2024 on the theme ‘Bharat and the World’ at JNU, Jaishankar said, “...The calculus of national security has understandably become much more complicated, traditional methods of competing and pressurizing are buttressed by new tools of influence and disruptions, here too Bharat has to pushback with determination and fortitude”
“When we were challenged on the LAC with China amid COVID, our rapid and effective counter deployments were the “appropriate answer”, he said.
To rectify the long neglect of the border infrastructure, India has now made the defence of the nation much more effective, he said.
On the Western front, the long-standing challenge of cross-border terrorism now elicits more befitting responses, he said asserting that “Uri and Balakot sent their own message.”
The Minister further emphasised that Bharat has multiple symbolisms in different domains including economic, development, political and cultural.
“Politically, Bharat is a statement of independence, it is a declaration that India engages the world, not necessarily on terms set by others,” he said.
He said Bharat also means being a civilised state rather than just national polity. It suggests larger responsibility and contribution.
There has been discernible, even if uneven, progress in economic and political re-balancing of the global order, the Minister said adding that the G20 has taken over the G7 and many new groupings and mechanisms have come into being.
The list of the top economies of the world has undergone change and India itself has moved up six positions in the last decade, he added. PSP BD SSP