latching on the terror strike on Pathankot airbase, the Congress on Saturday wondered whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who last month visited lahore, would take up the matter with his counterpart in the neighbouring country and maintained that the border State of Punjab had been witnessing a spurt in terror activities after about two decades of peace.
CPI and National Conference leaders, however, sought the Government to “insulate” the dialogue process by not allowing the terror strikes to have an adverse impact on it.
Raising security concerns for Punjab, the Congress said the attacks raise questions about the Government’s strategy for checking such incidents.
“Why have there been two terror attacks in Punjab, a State that has not seen any terror activities in over 20 years. Even the third attack in Udhampur (in J&K) was on the border of Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said reacting to the terror incident Saturday.
“The first (attack in Punjab) was in Dinanagar in Gurdaspur and now in Panthankot, where our frontline security installation is located,” he said.
“Will the Prime Minister take up the issue with Pakistan, now that he has recently visited the countryIJ How does the Government propose to control and check the terror coming from PakistanIJ These are important issues that the PM needs to address. Why is Punjab suddenly becoming a hotbed of such activitiesIJ” Surjewala asked.
The attack comes just a week after the Prime Minister made an unscheduled visit to lahore, touching down in Pakistan for the first time, to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
The Congress asserted that it is with the Government and the security forces in their fight against terrorism and said that the country got Pathankot attack from Pakistan in return of Modi’s peace initiative.
But seeking to insulate the dialogue process after the terror assault, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the attack on Pathankot IAF base was the first major challenge for the Prime Minister’s Pakistan plan and that the BJP will have to move beyond its stand on talks and terror to insulate the dialogue process.
“That was quick. Here’s the first major challenge to the PM (Narendra) Modi’s bold Pakistan gambit,” Omar wrote on Twitter.
Omar also said, “The BJP now has to sidestep its previous ‘terror and talks can’t go together’ and insulate the Indo-Pak dialogue from such attacks.”
“From past experience, I’m sure it (will) emerge that these militants crossed over within the last few hours with the airbase as a specific target,” the Opposition National Conference working president said.
In a similar vein, the CPI also urged both India and Pakistan not to fall into the “trap of provocation” by terror outfits by derailing peace talks between them in the wake of the attack.
“We strongly condemn the attack. It happened after the Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan. This appears to be an attempt by terror outfits to derail any dialogue process and initiative taken by both the countries.Both the countries should not fall into the trap of provocation of the terror outfits who must be given a strong message that they cannot derail the dialogue process,” CPI national secretary D Raja said.
The Rajya Sabha member also demanded that New Delhi take up the issue with Islamabad and push for action against the ones responsible for the attack.
Strongly condemning the attack by terrorists on an Air Force base , Chairman of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front, M S Bitta said there should be no talks with Pakistan till cross-border terrorism is not stopped.
“In my opinon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not have visited Pakistan, even if it was not a formal visit. I feel ISI in Pakistan is stronger than the government there. Whenever any good initiative is taken from our side, they betray us,” he told PTI over phone.