Congress on Wednesay sought to pick holes in the Narendra Modi Government’s strategy to isolate Islamabad in the wake of Uri terror attack, saying instead of boycotting the SAARC summit it should have striven for a summit of the regional grouping minus Pakistan.
“Is scrapping the SAARC summit the answerIJ Could India not have a summit minus PakistanIJ” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters, noting that South Asia was the “least integrated” region in the world.
Claiming that the Modi Government was “deluding” itself by believing that its steps were helping cornering Islamabad, he said that a summit minus Pakistan could have been better for the isolation of the neighbouring country.
He said that though it has been 10 days since the dastardly attack in Uri, the Modi Government is still “scrambling” for a coherent response. “Government responses in the past ten days have oscillated from the incoherent to ridiculous”.
Congress’ reaction came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a snub to Pakistan, decided not to attend the SAARC Summit in Islamabad to be held in November, leading to its collapse as the grouping works on the basis of consensus. Three more countries —Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan — have also decided to pull out of the Summit.
He also wondered if India’s withdrawal of MFN status would change the behaviour of Pakistan. “What effect will removing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status have on the state of PakistanIJ” he asked.
Similarly, he also questioned the Modi government’s review of the Indus Water Treaty. “What does that even meanIJ It would take 5-10 years to build hydel projects. Is this the kind of response that the people are looking forIJ Will the RSS and BJP workers make a human dam to deny Pakistan waterIJ”