Mumbai: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said the disengagement of troops in Depsang and Demchok in Ladakh is the first step and India hopes to return to the patrolling positions of 2020. In an apparent reference to China, the foreign minister said the next step is to de-escalate tensions. However, that will not happen until India is convinced that the same is happening on the other side.

agreed to patrol

How to manage the borders after the tension subsides will be discussed. Earlier this week, India announced that it had reached an agreement with China to patrol the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. This is a major breakthrough towards ending the military standoff that has been going on in eastern Ladakh for more than four years.

Both the armies had come very close

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Jaishankar said that a consensus has been reached on patrolling and withdrawal in Depsang and Demchok. It is clear that it will take time to implement it. This is an issue of withdrawal and patrolling, which means that our armies had come very close to each other and now they have gone back to their bases. We hope that the situation of 2020 will be restored.

Jaishankar rejected the allegations of shifting investment from Maharashtra to Gujarat and said that investors have their own calculations. They will choose a state government which is capable and efficient. In the last 10 years, not all the projects have come to BJP-ruled states. In view of the Maharashtra assembly elections, he said that the state needs a government whose ideology is similar to that of the central government. Maharashtra is a leading state in industry and infrastructure. Developed Maharashtra is important to achieve the goal of developed India.

India did not respond after 26/11: Jaishankar

In a veiled attack on the Manmohan Singh government, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India did not respond to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. But, if such an incident happens this time, India will not sit silent. Double standards on terrorism are not acceptable and India will take action wherever necessary to expose terrorism.

Talking to journalists, he said that we should not allow a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. There was a terrorist attack here and there was no response. But today, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is leading in the fight against terrorism and has a zero tolerance policy towards it.

Mumbai attack happened in 2008

This is not the first time Jaishankar has commented on the Mumbai attack. In April this year, he had said - After the Mumbai attacks, the National Security Advisor of the UPA government had written that we sat and discussed. We considered all the options. Then we decided not to do anything. We felt that we would have to pay a heavy price for attacking Pakistan. Let us tell you, Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack on November 26, 2008. In this, 166 people were killed and more than 300 people were injured.