New Delhi [India], October 6 : Noting that India has multiple neighbours and some are better than others, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that "hyphenation happens with a neighbour who is not so nice" and that the best way of de-hyphenation is to outstrip the other party in terms of power and capability.
Without directly naming Pakistan, Jaishankar said India cannot wish away a difficult neighbour, however unpleasant it may be.
Jaishankar, who was answering questions after his remarks at the Aravalli Summit 2025 at JNU, indicated that the countries no longer draw an equivalence between India and Pakistan as was heard in the seventies.
"The first question about hyphenation. We have multiple neighbours. Some are clearly better than others. And the hyphenation normally happens with a neighbour who is not so nice. Now, you have to understand when we say de-hyphenation, that means it's our objective and our approach that decisions made by third countries about us are not made keeping that relationship as the lens or as the factor of calculation or factor of primary calculation. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they would accommodate us," he said.
Jaishankar also talked about the competitive nature of international politics and attempts by few countries to use a situation for their ends.
"I think you will always see attempts, you know, to balance us off or to, if there is a situation, to use that situation for their own ends. That is the competitive nature of international politics. From our perspective, you know, the best way of de-hyphenation is frankly to outstrip the other party in terms of power and capability," he said.
"And today, you know, I can tell you as a person who travels, meets people, I've just come from a UN session. The kind of equivalence that I would hear when I joined the Foreign Service, when I left JNU and entered the Foreign Service in the 1970s, Ambassador (Kanwal) Sibal would vouch for a decade before that. Nobody talks like that anymore. So, I cannot wish away a difficult neighbour. I mean, that is a reality, however unpleasant it may be," he added.