Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 28: Reitera-ting the Congress policy to have harmonious relations with its neighbours especially Pakistan, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has questioned the role of the BJP which always indulged in rhetoric on the issue for the sake of its domestic politics and accused the Modi Government for following an inconsistent and zig-zag policy towards Pakistan.
Reacting to the recent debate over the surprise visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan, PCC chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir has said that Congress always favoured dialogue and friendly relations with the Pakistan and always pursued a policy for engaging the Pakistan for dialogue process but it was BJP which often indulged in negative rhetoric over the initiatives by the Congress led Government at the Centre.
He referred to the initiatives of the Congress led Governments from time to time to engage Pakistan in the process of bilateral dialogue to have better relations and resolve outstanding issues, however, at times the events and the situation emerging from Pakistan overtook the peace initiatives and derailed the peace process.
In this regard, he referred to the historic initiatives of starting ‘Cross LoC trade’ and the ‘Bus Yatra’ during the UPA regime under the Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh which was a major CBM between the people of the two nations.
Questioning BJP’s role, he said that the party always indulged in rhetoric for the sake of its domestic politics which further vitiated the atmosphere for peace process and initiatives for normalizing the relations with Pakistan. He referred to the election campaign in which the BJP and its leadership focused on the peace initiatives of the UPA Government and even after coming to power the ‘Modi’ Government always linked the dialogue process with terror activities and ceasefire violations by Pakistan, which witnessed an unprecedented rise during this period.
It is in this background that the consistency and direction of the Modi Government’s foreign policy towards Pakistan is under question as to what changed during the past 19 months of its rule, especially the sudden shift in its policy. However, the Congress is firm on its policy which always favoured better relations with its neigbour and to engage Pakistan in the process of dialogue for maintaining peace in the region.
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