Jaishankar pitches for international relations with Indian characteristics

MUMBAI: Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar on Saturday batted for shaping international relations with Indian characteristics, stressing the need for devoting more time to look at India’s reservoir of culture and knowledge.

He was speaking in Pune during the International Relations Conference on India’s Strategic Culture: Addressing Global and Regional Challenges’, organised by an educational institute.

“The question I have is to develop an Indian strategic culture; if we are to create international relations with Indian characteristics, is it not necessary that we actually devote more time, attention, and energies to look at our reservoir of culture, knowledge, history and traditions,” he asked.

The minister, who had a long diplomatic career, buttressed the point, citing his interaction with his American peers about Afghanistan years ago.

“I found that even after 20 years of being in Afghanistan, so much of the American understanding about that country was moulded by what was the British narrative of Afghanistan... I actually asked them if it occurs to you, have you ever thought why Peshawar is where it is? Was the Durand line actually something because the British Colonial construct was there,” he asked.

Durand line is the international land border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He said Western intellectuals have no problem in accepting the “5000-year-old unbroken Chinese history”, but many of them would not give that same “privilege” and understanding to India.