Parliament on Friday denounced Pakistan’s attempts to interfere in India’s internal affairs and unitedly condemned the Pakistan National Assembly for passing a resolution opposing the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Amid demand from the BJP for suspension of the dialogue process with Pakistan, both Houses passed a resolution asking the neighbouring country to desist from such acts of support for terrorists.
The identical resolutions moved in both Houses of Parliament said “any attempt from any quarter to interfere in the internal affairs of India will be met resolutely and with complete unity of our nation”. It reiterated that the ‘entire State of Jammu & Kashmir, including the territory under illegal occupation of Pakistan, is and shall always be an integral part of India”.
The resolution also noted that “Pakistan has committed that it would not allow its territory to be used for terrorism against India and only fulfillment of this commitment can be the basis for peaceful relations with Pakistan” and called upon Pakistan to desist from such acts of support for extremist and terrorist elements”.
leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley asked the Government to reconsider its engagements with Pakistan in the light of their National Assembly’s resolution, which has given a stamp of approval on the worst terror attacks on Indian Parliament.
Reminding that the Manmohan Singh Government has talked about walking extra mile to normalise relations with Pakistan, he said, “As long as this resolution remains, we should seriously forget normalising tie with Pakistan and walking even an extra yard.
On the contrary, Pakistan should now go the extra two miles for us to resume normal relations.”
Jaitley said that New Delhi always suspected the hand of Pakistan in the 2001 Parliament attack, but “Yesterday’s resolution seems to have confirmed our fears that the attacks were planned and executed by Pakistan.
“Normalisation of relationship would not be possible,” added the BJP leader.
He criticised the Government’s foreign policy for the way it is being kicked around whether it is Islamabad, Male or Rome.
“I think we seriously need to discuss our foreign policy and where it is leading us because if Indian can be kicked around in this manner internationally then there is something seriously wrong with the manner in which external affairs is run,” he said.
Apart from Jaitley, BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Chandan Mitra and Balbir Punj insisted that the House should pass a resolution which was conceded by the Chair.
The Congress too took strong exception to the Pakistan resolution with Satyabrat Chaturvedi saying that such blatant interference in the internal affairs of India would not be tolerated and the Government will take strong action to retaliate.
Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha raised the matter in the lok Sabha and urged that the House should unanimously give a befitting reply to the resolution passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan. “I urge that this House (lok Sabha) should pass a resolution to give a befitting reply to National Assembly of Pakistan’s resolution,” Sinha said.
He said an attempt has been made to provoke the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the Government was concerned about the Pakistan Assembly’s resolution and urged the Speaker to move the resolution, which was later adopted unanimously.