Before Second Foreign Ministers' Meet, India Says It Expects Quad to Understand Its Stance on Terror

New Delhi: The foreign ministers of the Quad grouping of countries met in Washington on Tuesday (July 1), where external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said India expects its partner nations to understand that it will rightfully defend itself against terrorism, whose “victims and perpetrators must never be equated”.

The meeting, the second to take place between the grouping's foreign ministers this year, comes barely a week ahead of the day that Washington's pause on tariffs against various countries, including nations in the Quad, is set to expire unless they strike a deal with his administration.

It also comes against the backdrop of moments of tension in the US's bilateral relations with other Quad constituents India, Australia and Japan, with Trump in the former's case repeatedly contradicting New Delhi's claim that Washington did not mediate the end to the Indo-Pakistani military conflict in May.

Speaking to the media immediately before the meeting, Jaishankar said that India expects its Quad partners to “understand and appreciate” its stance on terrorism.

“A word about terrorism in the light of our recent experience,” he said in a reference to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, “the world must display zero tolerance” while the “victims and perpetrators” of terrorism “must never be equated”.

He continued: “India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right. We expect our Quad partners to understand and appreciate that.”

Some observers were of the opinion that Trump's remarks on the Indo-Pakistani conflict in May – which followed India's strikes against ‘terror infrastructure’ in Pakistan, whom it blamed for the Pahalgam attack – had ‘re-hyphenated’ the two countries.

At an exhibition in New York City on Monday organised by India's permanent mission to the UN there titled ‘The Human Cost of Terrorism’, Jaishankar claimed that the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack had been brought to ‘justice’.

“What that response underlines is a larger message of zero tolerance for terrorism,” he added.

The minister had also said that it is “imperative” to publicly call out instances when “terrorism is supported by a state against a neighbour, when it is fuelled by the bigotry of extremism [and] when it drives a whole host of illegal activities”.

At the Quad ministerial meeting, Jaishankar reiterated the collective's commitment to ensuring a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.

“To that end, our endeavours are devoted to promoting a rules-based international order. It is essential that nations of the Indo-Pacific have the freedom of choice, so essential to make right decisions on development and security,” Jaishankar said.

The last few months had seen progress in initiatives spanning the “maritime domain, logistics, education and political coordination”, he continued, adding to endorse a “more cohesive, nimble and focused Quad”.

The Quad is the colloquial term for the informal grouping comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan that was created in 2007 and revived ten years later in light of China's growing influence.

The heads of the Quad countries are scheduled to meet in India later this year, with Jaishankar saying that discussions on the upcoming summit would be on the table during Tuesday's meeting.

His US counterpart Marco Rubio said in his remarks to the press that one of the grouping's challenges is “is turning meetings and gatherings where we talk about ideas and concepts into a vehicle for action”.

Moreover, the Quad is not merely about security but “largely, in many cases, about economic development”, per the secretary of state, who added that a particular area of his focus was using the Quad to diversify the global supply chain of critical minerals.

Rubio's remarks come days after the US and China made further progress on expediting Beijing's export of rare earth minerals – which are key to the electric vehicle, defence and electronics industries – to America, which it had slowed down as part of the broader trade dispute between the two countries.

Trade also looms large over the relations between the US and the other Quad countries, with Trump's ‘reciprocal tariffs’ of 26% and 24% against India and Japan respectively set to kick in next Wednesday unless their governments reach a deal with Washington.

New Delhi and Washington have been in talks over a trade deal – a first tranche of which they agreed in February to negotiate by autumn of this year – with some reports suggesting that the two sides could reach an interim deal before the July 9 deadline.

Jaishankar had said on Monday that India in his estimation had held among the most rounds of talks with the US and that while he hoped for a “successful conclusion”, “things being what they are, it's not done till it's done”.

The minister was scheduled to meet Rubio in a bilateral meeting after the Quad foreign ministers' meeting.

He had also acknowledged on Monday that “relationships will never be free of issues” and “even differences”, but that the two countries must focus on ‘dealing with it’ and ‘keeping that trend going in the positive direction’.

One issue in the India-US relationship has been Trump's repeated statements that Washington mediated the Indo-Pakistani ceasefire in May – with the president also claiming he used trade access as leverage in making the deal possible – claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have denied.

Canberra and Tokyo have also had moments of tension in their relations with the US, with Washington's reported decision to review a submarine deal with Australia and its calls for Japan to increase its defence spending creating ripples in those respective countries.

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