ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s state-sponsored “large-scale industry of terrorism”prevents its government from behaving like a “normal neighbour”, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

In a live video link from New Delhi to address the Leaders’ Summit as partof UK-India Week in Buckinghamshire near London, he called on countrieslike Britain to be more proactive in calling out nations that obstruct theinternational rules-based order because “a lot of what Pakistan is doingtoday, affects the rest of the world, including the UK”.

“This kind of large-scale industry of terrorism, which is done with theblessing of the state because the state thinks it is an instrument againstthe neighbour… it is increasingly unacceptable to India, and more andmore countries are coming around to that view,” he said, in response to aquestion about the political situation vis- -vis Pakistan.

“I think a lot of the problem today is whether Pakistan is prepared tobehave as a normal country and as a normal neighbour. I don’t thinkanywhere in the world today, you will have a country which has an industrygeared towards committing acts of terror,” Jaishankar said.

The former diplomat-turned-minister highlighted that while India hasoffered Pakistan a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status in favour ofnon-discriminatory trade, Pakistan has failed to reciprocate.

He said: “Connectivity is at the heart of South Asia but Pakistan isresisting connectivity concerning India. So, the challenge that I see isreally if a country practices terrorism, denies normal trade, isobstructing connectivity, how can India work with such a country.

“It is not an easy challenge. We have struggled with it now for many, manyyears. It’s not a challenge we can address alone, but also I think it isnot a challenge we should be addressing alone”.