New Delhi, May 15: Making India's longstanding position clear once again, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Thursday said that any issues pertaining to Pakistan will be dealt with Islamabad bilaterally.

"Our relations, our dealings with Pakistan will be bilateral and strictly bilateral. That is the national consensus for many years and there is absolutely no change in that consensus," EAM Jaishankar told reporters after the inauguration of Embassy of Honduras in New Delhi.

Over the last few days, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the India-Pakistan conflict essaying his role as a peacemaker who is committed to resolving conflicts in the world.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had cleared that any issues pertaining to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally.

"That stated policy has not changed. As you are aware, the outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian Territory by Pakistan," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a weekly media briefing.

The EAM also emphasised that India has achieved "key goals" that it set out to do by destroying the terrorist infrastructure during Operation Sindoor.

"I think the Prime Minister made it very clear that the only talks with Pakistan will be on terror. Pakistan has a list of terrorists who need to be handed over, they have to shut down the terrorist infrastructure. They know what to do. We are prepared to discuss with them what is to be done on terrorism. Those are the talks which are feasible," stated EAM Jaishankar.

Spelling out India's position on a host of issues following the highly-successful Operation Sindoor, Jaishankar highlighted that New Delhi received massive international support after the heinous Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 which resulted in the death of 26 innocent civilians.

The Resistance Front (TRF), an international terrorist organisation affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), owned responsibility for the killings.

"Let me say a few things here. One, we actually got a lot of international support. Many ministers, many leaders called the Prime Minister, and many ministers called me as well. We had a Security Council resolution which very clearly stated that the perpetrators of this attack should be held accountable. On the morning of May 7, we held them accountable through the action that was taken through Operation Sindoor," the EAM said.

He also cleared India's stance on cessation of firing and the military action.

"We achieved the goals which we set out to do by destroying the terrorist infrastructure. Since key goals were achieved, I think we reasonably took the position, because even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure, we are not striking at the military and the military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice. Once they got badly hit on the morning of May 10. Today, the satellite pictures which actually bring out graphically how much damage we did and how little damage they did," Jaishankar stated.

Earlier in the day, while speaking in Srinagar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the ongoing ceasefire understanding is respected by India only as long as no terrorist attack takes place in the country. He also said that it was time that the Nuclear facility of Pakistan was taken over by a global watchdog.

Addressing the Indian Army soldiers at the Badami Bagh Cantonment area of Srinagar city, which is the headquarters of the Army’s 15 Corps, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Our 'Operation Sindoor' is undoubtedly the biggest anti-terrorist operation ever undertaken by India. We hit their chest and left a huge wound on it after they tried to attack our head."

(IANS)

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