On Ukraine-Russia conflict, Jaishankar says India is for peace, supports immediate end to violence

“We are strongly against the conflict, we believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives. In this day and age, dialogue and diplomacy are the right answers to any disputes,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the House in reply to Tuesday’s discussion on the conflict. He added that India supports an immediate end to the violence.

Talking about the civilian killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, Jaishankar said India is “deeply disturbed” by the reports. “We strongly condemn the killings that have taken place there. This is an extremely serious matter and we support the call for an independent investigation,” he said.

Jaishankar also said that attributing a political colour to India’s actions vis-a-vis the Ukraine situation was unfortunate. One should bear in mind that the contemporary global order has been built on the UN Charter, on respect for international law, and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, he said. “If India has chosen a side, it is a side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence. This is our principled stand and has consistently guided our position in international forums and debates, including in the UN,” Jaishankar said.

The minister also said that from the beginning, the signal from Ukrainian authorities was that the emerging situation was “manageable” and that everything was under control, and that put Indian students in quandary about leaving the country. “We were in constant touch with Ukrainian authorities and even universities. We were very frustrated with some of the universities,” he said.

To specific concerns raised by the Opposition, especially the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and others, on the future of the students who are completing their studies in the war-torn country, Jaishankar said that India is in talks with Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan, and Hungary for the completion of medical education of Ukraine returnees.

On some of the Opposition’s criticism that the government sent Union ministers to neighbouring countries to gain political mileage out of the situation, Jaishankar said that the presence of the ministers helped the evacuation process. “Had the four ministers not gone to countries neighbouring Ukraine, India would not have got the same level of cooperation from those countries. In fact, the ministers worked as a team,” he said.

Asserting that India has never undertaken such a large scale evacuation effort in the past, Jaishankar said that India’s actions inspired other countries.

Jaishankar said that the conflict has had a bearing on the present world order. “The world order keeps changing, that’s why G-7 became G-20. The global order is changing due to Covid, Afghanistan… The only way to protect ourselves is to reduce our dependency on foreign countries and be atmanirbhar,” he said.