Congress on Friday slammed the Centre over its policy with regard to Pakistan saying it had made a “joke of itself” and “failed” to send a clear message despite provocations. The party also charged that the Government’s “flip-flop diplomacy was hurting the country dearly.”
Former Union Minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari said the BJP-led NDA Government was making a “joke of itself” with regards to its engagement with Pakistan. He added that even BJP veteran Yashwant Sinha has called for the cancellation of the talks, describing it as a betrayal of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s policy towards the neighbouring country.
The Congress leader said that the Pakistan NSA has not even sent his itinerary as to what he intends to do while in India on his proposed visit to the country.
Another former Union Minister, RPN Singh, said India needed to have sent stronger messages much earlier. “We’ve had repeated killings of our jawans, repeated killings of women and children on the border. We’ve had an attack in Gurdaspur in Punjab after 20 years. A Pakistani terrorist was captured in Udhampur. These were the times that the Government of India should have taken steps to send a strong message to Pakistan,” he said.
Questioning what he claimed was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” over the matter, Congress spokesman Singh further added that it seems “we are in talks whether Pakistan should meet Hurriyat leaders.”
“We would appeal to the Government that the pride of the country and security of the nation is at stake. The Government must deliver,” Singh said.
AICC Spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the NDA Government has made a “laughing spectacle” of itself by unwittingly shifting focus from terror to Kashmir ahead of the NSA level talks. “Government has achieved exactly the opposite of what it set to achieve,” Singhvi said at AICC breifing.
Accusing the Government of failing to do groundwork before the talks, he lamented that “the left hand does not know what the right is doing and head does not know what the feet are doing.”
Taking a dig on the role of Ministry of External Affairs, the Congress asked as to where is the Foreign Minister and the External Affairs Ministry in the making of Foreign Policy.
“Is Nagpur the remote control making India’s Foreign Policy,” Singhvi said in a veiled reference to RSS.