External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that the "lack of response" after Mumbai terror attack in 2008 was so different from response after the Uri and Balakot operations and noted that various events bear scrutiny for lessons they hold.
Delivering the 4th Ramnath Goenka Memorial Lecture here on 'Beyond the Delhi Dogma: Indian Foreign Policy in a Changing World', Jaishankar said India's record includes "dark moments" like the 1962 defeat against China or "tense ones" like the 1965 war with Pakistan.
"There are enough dichotomies in our past to generate a spirited debate on successes and failures...Two decades of nuclear indecision ended dramatically with the tests of 1998. The lack of response to 26/11 is so different from the Uri and Balakot operations. Whether it is events or trends, they all bear scrutiny for the lessons they hold," he said.
India conducted surgical strike on terror launch pads across Line of Control in 2016 after the Uri terror attack and conducted aerial strike on a terror camp at Balakot in Pakistan after the terror attack in Pulwama earlier this year.
Jaishankar said the very structure of international order was undergoing a profound transformation.
"The world is not just different, the very structure of the international order is undergoing a profound transformation. Change (is) upon us as never before," he said.
"We are at a moment in world politics when many of our long-held assumptions no longer hold true. If the world is different, we need to think, talk and engage accordingly. Falling back on the past is unlikely to help with the future," he added.