00:00Good afternoon very good to be back in Colombia it was here as this young lady was reminding
00:06me 15 years ago as Minister in the Government of India at that time and I had some very
00:12good meetings on that occasion with your President and Foreign Minister in those days
00:17but I have not been back to Colombia in the 15 years since so it is very satisfying to
00:24हुआ जो भी दोगन दोड़ी तो टो गूए तो जो दिए दो तरस्थ करने टोगुंसेटाट्स आप्साथ चेह एंगा नहीं उंच पार प्रीव जबस डिए टर्रोर्स अटाग मेशप्र आप्र ए मनेद खूल प्रिम्हान वे लिए ट्ड शूड़ से अल्रिए से ट्रिटरी
00:54These people actually even asked the religion of the people they were accosting before shooting them dead and it was a ruthless, cold-blooded, awful massacre of innocent people.
01:10When this happened, of course, the world rose up to condemn the terrorist attack, but that was as far as it went.
01:19there was no action taken not even by the country where these people had emerged from namely Pakistan
01:26nobody was arrested there was no attempt at any prosecution
01:30India decided that this kind of outrage could not go unpunished and therefore on the 7th of May
01:40India chose to launch strikes against known terror bases headquarters and launch pads of
01:50organizations listed as terror organizations by the United Nations sanctions committee on terrorism
01:58the 1267 committee and also on the wanted list the designated terror list of the United States
02:06government so we were not targeting any Pakistani government institutions any Pakistani civilian
02:15institutions or even any Pakistani military institutions we only attacked terror bases
02:22and we did so with a great deal of precision so much so that in one particular example we struck
02:29a very specific building inside the rather rather large campus of a particular terrorist organization
02:35organization and this kind of precision was meant to drive home a very specific message
02:44the message was that if you think you can come and kill our civilians and get away with impunity
02:55that is not going to happen you will pay a price at the same time we took care to conduct these strikes
03:04attacks at night 1 o'clock in the morning 105 to 1 30 so there would be no civilians around and there would be minimal risk of collateral damage
03:14and because of the care with which we had avoided any other target we were quite confident that the only victims of these attacks
03:24would be people located in or residing in these terror headquarters and indeed so it proved in fact the next day there was a well-publicized funeral of one of the terrorists on the sanctions list
03:40and you will be interested to see that that funeral was attended by uniformed senior military and police personnel from Pakistan
03:52that is the extent of complicity that we are seeing between the terrorists who perpetrate
04:01crimes of this nature and those who finance guide train arm and equip them and to provide them safe haven to continue their training and their other awful deeds
04:19this was then followed by an 88-hour conflict i would not call it a war but during that conflict the pakistanese shelled indiscriminately
04:31they killed 19 civilians in the district of punch by hitting amongst other things a gurudwara a sikh temple
04:40a convent a convent of the carmelites of mother mary
04:44they hit civilian homes they hit cars residential areas
04:50and in retaliation india also shelled back we have then been at the receiving end of a barrage of missiles and drones
05:03which were blocked by our air defenses and we in turn struck pakistani military airfields
05:12at the end of 88 hours of these exchanges of strikes the pakistanese asked for a cessation of fire
05:22and india immediately agreed and the reason we had agreed is from the very beginning we had said
05:29we had no intention of starting a protracted conflict
05:34we just wanted to teach a lesson to the terrorists alone
05:39and we had said to the pakistanese if you don't retaliate we will not retaliate
05:45if you stop we will stop and that's why the war was able to end as swiftly as it did
05:52now i want to stress to you colombia has good relations with india
05:58we have a billion and a half dollars of investment in this country in colombia from india
06:04we are a country that is interested and focused only in economic growth
06:10in development in the well-being and prosperity of our people
06:14not that many years ago a large number of our people were still living below the poverty line
06:20for us the biggest challenge is bringing them into prosperity in the 21st century
06:26we have no desire to be distracted by any trouble on our borders or any conflict
06:32we are very happy to leave our neighbor pakistan alone if they will leave us alone
06:38sadly however what we are seeing is that pakistan is not content with the status quo
06:46they seek something we have that we are not going to we are a land of peace in fact
06:51we are looking forward to visiting one of the statues of mahatma gandhi in this lovely city of bogata
06:58i believe you have two mahatma gandhi was the apostle of peace of ahimsa and non-violence
07:04but he was also the leader of our freedom struggle
07:07he fought for freedom against british oppression
07:11and he taught us that freedom also includes freedom from fear
07:18that you cannot live in fear and hold your head high
07:22and we are determined that the answer to terrorism will be so firm and decisive
07:29that the terrorists and those who facilitate them
07:33will have to think more than once before they embark on such a misadventure
07:40the reason we have come to colombia
07:43that we are part of a we are in the middle of a five country tour
07:48we have been to guiana and panama we're going to brazil and then to the united states
07:53the reason we are here in colombia is to seek the sympathy and understanding
08:00of the people of colombia and the government of colombia
08:04of the legislators the deputados of colombia
08:09and our public opinion the opinion leaders those who think about world affairs
08:16we want them to understand and to empathize with our plight
08:21we know that colombia has had a tragic history of enduring terrorist attacks as well
08:28we deeply deeply empathize and have always stood strongly with colombia
08:34when it has suffered the depredations of terror
08:37we seek the same understanding and the same response
08:42please stand with us and please be aware
08:46that we are here not only to tell you what has already happened
08:50but to also tell you as friends
08:53that if this happens again we will once again act very very strongly
09:00it is important that people understand this
09:03as you know all of us in the world want to see peace
09:07whenever something happens the immediate response of the world is
09:11peaceful solution peace calm violent non-violence dialogue
09:15and that is our preference too
09:17but you cannot talk peace with a gun pointed at your head
09:24and that is our reality
09:26we will respond to what has been done to us
09:31as we judge necessary
09:33and as i say once again
09:35we seek your understanding and support
09:38in our struggle and our fight against terrorism
09:43i'll stop there
09:45you know so many of you i'm sure you have questions
09:47i'll be very very pleased to respond
09:49thank you and jay
09:51i'll certainly happy to turn to you lisa
09:56let me get a colombian journalist first
09:58yes sir
09:58there's a mic
10:03thank you very much
10:09cuáles han sido las posiciones concretas
10:13del ejecutivo colombiano
10:20es decir frente
10:21ha habido una solidaridad
10:23pero que esas posiciones concretas
10:25se han presentado
10:26y de qué manera
10:28este tipo de
10:30कि अबस्ते हैं, कि अबस्तित आज आज के अडिका इन पिप्टाउने अडिकान बस्तis कम आजिकान का थे तसकती हैं
10:40Thank you.
10:46I have to say that we were a little disappointed in the reaction of the Colombian government,
10:55which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes,
11:07rather than sympathizing with the victims of terrorism
11:12we will say to our friends in Colombia
11:17there can be no equivalence between those who dispatch terrorists
11:22and those who resist them
11:23there can be no equivalence between those who attack and those who defend
11:29we are only exercising our right of self-defense
11:34and if there is any misunderstanding here on this call
11:40we are here to dispel any such misunderstanding
11:43we are very happy to talk to Colombia in some detail about the circumstances
11:50we have as I said very concrete proof
11:53in fact when this terrorist attack occurred
11:57it was immediately claimed by an organization called the resistance front
12:02which is a unit of the Lashkar-e-Toiba based in Mureed-ke-Pakistan
12:08there is no doubt that they reiterated this credit the next day
12:13it is only after their handlers realized the damage this could do
12:20that they then deleted the claim two days later
12:23but the claim has been made
12:25there is no doubt as to where this came from
12:28and we will reserve always the right to hit back
12:33just as Colombia has endured many terror attacks
12:37so have we in India
12:39we have endured a very large number of attacks for almost four decades
12:45frankly it is now very well established
12:50that Pakistan has been breeding the monsters of terrorism
12:55for a very long time for their own purposes
12:58we all know that when Osama bin Laden was being hunted around the world
13:05it was Pakistan that gave him shelter
13:08the Americans found him in a safe house
13:12in an army near an army base in a cantonment city
13:17in other words they found him and killed him
13:20the world's most wanted terrorist in Pakistan
13:23a country which sadly has incubated terrorism
13:27for some years now
13:28for at least four decades now
13:38O.K.
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