Talks with Pak, friendly ties with China: NSA’s first public remarks

“We would like to resolve our problems through negotiations, through talks. I can’t think of any problem that cannot be resolved through negotiations. But on the other hand, India would like to have an effective deterrence to deal with terrorism,” he said.

Pitching for early finalisation of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, which is being stalled by countries like Pakistan, Doval said, “On the international front, nothing has happened except conferences. The UN resolution is pending… People could not define terrorism… Pakistan said ‘freedom fighters’ should not be treated as terrorists.”

Emphasising the need for a UN convention on terrorism, he said it would make the states more responsible and a collective response could be formulated. “Can we think of extradition laws that that can help us in the process? It is fast-moving pattern and action should be taken in 24-48 hours. Otherwise it will not serve any purpose,” he said.

Doval also underlined that while India wants friendly relations with China, there would be no compromise on “territorial interest”. “While we would like to take every opportunity to develop the relations to their best extent, we will never be able to make any compromise on our territorial interest and sovereignty at the cost of our national security,” he said.

“I find that there is a positive signal from the  Chinese and they also feel that we should sit together and resolve our boundary dispute amicably and as early as possible so that there is more cooperation,” said Doval.

“We see China as a very important neighbour. We had some bad experiences in 1962 and we have got disputes. That is the ground reality. You have to sit with them to find a solution. But there is a lot of scope for economic cooperation. We also have many types of common problems,” he said.

Responding to a query on whether the al Qaeda or ISIS poses a bigger threat, Doval said: “There is nothing like a big or small threat. We consider terrorism as a threat. It is not on the basis of geography, groups, capabilities or their targets. Any group about whom we have information that it has the intention or capability to strike against us — they would be our biggest targets,” said Doval.