India has kept spotlight on cross-border terror: Jaishankar

Relentless efforts by India helped in keeping the spotlight on cross-border terrorism it faced and the world was gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terror, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

Without naming Pakistan, he said one of India's immediate neighbours was indulging in state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.

We have in our immediate neighbourhood, a particularly egregious example of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.

The world is gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terrorism," he said, in a virtual address at a programme organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB) here.

The Minister added: "Our relentless efforts have kept it in the spotlight bringing out the related aspects like terror finance radicalisation and cyber recruitments. Talking about the Vande Bharat mission, he said India brought back more than 24 lakh of its nationals from other countries during the COVID-19 lockdown. The country also extended help in sending back over one lakh foreigners to their respective countries during the pandemic," he said.

"More than 24 lakh of our people have been repatriated through flights by land and sea. From Air India to the Indian Navy, we pressed all our resources to achieve this goal," Jaishankar said.

"The intention was very simple, today's India will not leave any Indian abroad in distress. After all we are in many ways a unique economy that is heavily reliant on mobility and migration. Our credibility depends on the assurance we provide to those abroad who contribute to progress at home," he added.

Jaishankar said there were many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic experience which will be reflected in coming times. The country's immediate focus was on economic recovery and the figures for September and October have "really been encouraging", he said.

There was also a greater awareness globally about a more resilient supply chain and India can exploit the sentiment for additional engines of growth, by creating better conditions for production, he said.

Explaining about India's capabilities in terms of medical equipment in the aftermath of COVID-19, he said the country currently has 15,000 dedicated facilities with 1.5 million isolation beds.

Over a million of the population was being tested for the virus in more than 7000 testing centres across the country.

The challenge now is to take this ability to rise to the moment of crisis and transform that into a more routine set of practices and procedures, he opined.

The world was not going to carry business as usual as the winds of change were blowing again. Those with the more self- centred views of world politics will have to come to terms with the needs of the day, he said without mentioning any country.

(Photo Credit: Twitter/MEAIndia)