NEW DELHI : Alleging lack of sincerity on part of Pakistan, Congress today said there is “no purpose” of going ahead with the NSA-level talks unless there are tangible deliverables.
“We would advise the government… Unless there are firm assurances of tangible deliverables and outcome, there is no purpose” in going ahead with the talks, senior party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters.
With Pakistan shifting focus from terror to Kashmir through Hurriyat Conference, Sharma charged Pakistan with using the build up to NSA level talks for propaganda purposes against India’s interests.
Noting that “extraneous” issues are being used to throw spanner in the process of talks, he said that the exercise is being exploited by those who influence border issues in Pakistan against India.
He warned the government against giving “a larger than life profile to Hurriyat”, which he insisted has “no locus standi”.
“It (Hurriyat) does not represent people of J&K and is unrepresentative and unrepresentable,” he said.
Sharma said that India should have have seen through the Pakistani designs and wondered as to why New Delhi announced the dates of talks in a one way gesture, without Islamabad confirming it.
“We are concerned and we are definitely saddened and embarrassed by these developments…. We request the Government that till the time you are fully satisfied with what will be the outcome of talks, till then you leave this process,” he said.
Targeting the Narendra Modi dispensation, he remarked diplomacy and statecraft are delicate issues. “This government lacks both in dealing with Pakistan”.
Sharma said Pakistan had also offered NSA-level talks
when Congress-led UPA was in power.
The Congress leader, who was a senior Minister in the previous government, said the UPA government had not agreed. It had told Pakistan that until the trial in Mumbai terror attack case comes to conclusion, India cannot accept NSA level talks.
Insisting that Pakistan needs to take action against the terror syndicate in its territory, Sharma wanted the Government “to be serious, to be alert and to avoid to pitfalls”.
India’s principled position is that talks should have a pre-condition of dismantling terror which operates from Pakistani soil, Sharma said and wanted to know the basis on which the Government changed Pakistan policy which has been in place for years now.
He said that no over-enthusiasm should be shown by India to engage with Pakistan “when you don’t know intentions”.
Besides, he said that both Parliament and people of India continue to be in dark on the details of the Ufa Agreement. He said that till date the country doesn’t know on what India agreed to at UFA.
Former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid also slammed the Modi Government for running a policy “based on two to three people who think they will pull out a rabbit out of hat”.
“It’s very disappointing policy,” he said, adding, “Is government being able to use best assets of foreign policy that are available both in terms serving or retired officers. Has Government talked to opposition, has the government talked to people who have handled Pakistan policy for years?” (AGENCIES)
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