On the prospect of India, Pakistan playing cricket in either of the countries, foreign minister S Jaishankar on Friday said there should be sustained international pressure on Pakistan to end terrorism and India will have to take leadership in maintaining that pressure

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday sent a loud and clear message that cross-border terrorism should never be normalised. Amid the row between the BCCI and the PCB over Asia Cup 2023 following BCCI's announcement that Indian players will not go to Pakistan, Jaishankar said, "Tournaments keep coming and you are aware of the government's stand. Let's see what happens."

"I want to repeat that we should never accept that one country has the right to terrorism. We will have to delegitimise it. And for that, there should be international pressure on the country. This pressure will remain when the victims of terrorism raise their voices. We have to take leadership in it because we have bled because of terrorism," Jaishankar said at Agenda Aaj Tak.

On the issue of resuming talks between India and Pakistan, Jaishankar said, "It is a complicated issue. Will you talk to me if I put a gun on your head? If your neighbour aids terrorism out in the open -- and there is no mystery about who the leaders are, where the camps are... We should never think that cross-border terrorism is normal. Give me another example where one neighbour is sponsoring terrorism against another. There is no such example. In a way, this is not even abnormal, but exceptional."

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