The Congress on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Pakistani JIT’s visit to Pathankot, and Islamabad’s failure to nail in the terrorists who carried out the attack. The party also demanded an apology from BJP chief Amit Shah for “having distributed certificates of sincerity to Pakistan” after a Pakistani media reported that the JIT, which came to India to probe the Pathankot terror attack, dubbed it as a “drama staged by India to malign Pakistan”.
Alleging that the development has caused “national embarrassment”, senior party leaders Anand Sharma said the Congress had “cautioned” the PM and the Government about the JIT which also had a representative from ISI.
“What Prime Minister has claimed and his Government as diplomatic triumph has turned out to be a diplomatic disaster. We had questioned the visit of the Pakistan JIT which included representatives of the ISI,” said Sharma.
Sharma said a diplomatic crime has been committed. “This has caused national embarrassment. BJP chief Amit Shah, who lacks any comprehension of the complex issue and gravitas of foreign policy, was distributing certificates of sincerity to Pakistan in the Pathankot matter. He should apologise to the people,” Sharma said.
He claimed this happened as the BJP chief and the National Security Adviser were “busy operating the dirty tricks department and engaged in toppling the Congress Governments more than paying attention to serious issue”.
Congress’ communication department chief Randeep Surjewala said “reports in Pakistani media quoting leaked contents of Pakistani Joint Investigation Team report on Pathankot terror attack have once again exposed the doubled-faced policy of Pakistan in dealing with terrorism.”
The Congress said the Prime Minister should “rise over theatrics” and take diplomacy seriously, which the country expects as 125 crore people of India are feeling “betrayed” by Modi.
Surjewala said the “reposition of confidence” in the Pakistani JIT by Shah appears to have “backfired”.
“They came to our country with a pre-determined agenda and went away after levelling false allegations. Even China has come to their rescue in the UN by vetoing declaration of Maulana Masood Azhar as a terrorist,” Surjewala said.
Sharma also recalled that first it happened post Ufa when there was an attack in Udhampur, then Gurdaspur, then after his dramatic visit to lahore and Raiwind to Nawaz Sharif’s residence, in five days, country faced another attack in Pathankot.