Abdul Bari Masoud | Caravan Daily
NEW DELHI — Expressing grave concern over the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress, on Friday, said the country is extremely disturbed indeed shocked at what is happening in the United Nations on Kashmir.
Speaking at a press conference at AICC headquarters here, party spokesman Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Congress views this development with deep concern.
The Congress had also appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take efforts to dissuade the member nations of the Security Council from going ahead with the meeting.
The Congress, which opposed the unilateral abrogation of the special status of J&K, squarely blamed the prime minister for “internationalisation” of the Kashmir issue in a “brazen manner” at a time when foreign minister of India was on a visit to China.
It has been the bedrock of India’s foreign policy for decades that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (JKL) is an integral and inalienable part of India and no outside power – group, organisation or individual – can claim to the contrary, he asserted.
Unfortunately, for the first time after 60 years, the issue has been “internationalized”.
“It is, therefore, shocking that roughly after 60 years, I think the last time it was in 1964, roughly after 55 or 60 years, for the first time this is sought to be internationalised at the United Nations Security Council today.”
Referring to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Beijing, Singhvi said, “It is a “grave diplomatic failure of the Government. In fact, it is worse; it is a grave strategic failure of the Government”.
Elaborating further, the Congress spokesman said, “Just imagine, the foreign minister of India is in China. He is deputed to go to China and is discussing this very issue there. Our diplomats are being mollycoddled by the Chinese and while they are served tea and cakes, under their nose, under the very nose of the Modi Government, China has the guts to approach the United Nations which is having a meeting today.”
Accusing the media of pro-Modi bias, he said they did not objectively report what was happening during the bilateral meeting with Chinese leaders.
“When these parleys were going on, the Government took great care through its favourite and favoured TV channels or well-placed links to suggest that nothing of the sort can or will happen and that China is going along with us. And then, literally under the very nose of the Modi Government, the Chinese Government, hosting and entertaining our foreign minister, gets this meeting organised at the behest of Pakistan.”
“Is this not a strategic failure for India besides a diplomatic faux pas of the highest proportion, the Congress leader asked the prime minister? Why such a UNSC meeting should be held at all,” he asked and questioned the prime minister’s silence over the matter.
He also criticized the Modi and his supporters for labeling those opposed the revocation of Article 370 as “anti-national”.
Reminding Modi about his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who laid down the three noble principles, Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat, to resolve Kashmir problem and the historic bus journey to Lahore he had undertaken, the senior Congress leader asked if Vajpayee too can be called antinational.
Taking a dig at the BJP for forming government in J&K in alliance with the PDP, he said, “Above all, do not forget your fairly long marriage to the PDP and I have here your agenda of governance which you signed with the PDP. By your standards, every word here is antinational – not that I am calling it, I am saying by your standard.
“You have talked about everything – Special Status, Constitutional provisions pertaining to J&K, confidence-building measures (CBMs) across the Line of Control, civil society exchanges, travel, commerce, trade, help and sustain a meaningful dialogue with internal stakeholders, etc.”
Responding to a question on the statement of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on nuclear policy, Dr. Singhvi said everybody knows that the Congress stands behind the nation and behind the Government as far as our defence is concerned, as far as our sovereignty is concerned, and in particular as far as our nuclear policy and nuclear use issues are concerned.
The Congress leader also slammed the Modi government for allowing Nagaland insurgents groups NSCN to hold their own flag hoisting on August 14 saying the PM Modi in 2015 and 2016 signed the accord with them.
“They (the Nagaland Group – NSCN) were in fact talking of shared sovereignty and you Mr Modi in 2015 and 2016 signed the accord with them… They were at one time in fact dealing as if between sovereigns without accepting the sovereignty of India. “
