“Land boundary pact with Bangladesh reduces terrorism in India"

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said terrorist activities in his country's northeast region have declined because of the land boundary pact with Bangladesh.

He said this during an interaction with an audience in Vadodara city of western state of Gujarat on Saturday evening.

He said: "Thanks to that land border agreement with Bangladesh, militants failed to get any shelter there. This stopped them from carrying out their operations in the North East." 

Bangladesh and India signed the and boundary agreement in June, 2015 during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden official visit to Dhaka, resolving a 41-year-old issue that had been a major irritant in bilateral ties.

Jaishankar said no other country "practices terrorism" the way Pakistan does.

"No other country practices terrorism in the manner in which Pakistan has done. You show me anywhere in the world what Pakistan has done for so many years against India. After the 26/11 Mumbai attack (by ten Pakistani terrorists who killed 175 people in 2008), it is important for us to be clear to ourselves that this kind of behaviour and action is unacceptable and there will be consequences," Jaishankar said.

While India is considered "expert in IT" (Information Technology), the neighbouring country is known as an "expert in International Terrorism", the minister quipped.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India successfully made other countries realise that terrorism can harm them too in the future if not contained now, he said.

"We are fairly successful in taking along the world in this fight against terrorism," Jaishankar said.