Govt faces Oppn heat on secret NSA meet in Bangkok

The Opposition, along with NDA’s long-term ally Shiv Sena, attacked the government inside and outside Parliament over the secret NSA-level talks in Bangkok between India and Pakistan, with the Congress accusing it of making a “fundamental departure” from its position on Indo-Pak ties. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, a former External Affairs Minister, also questioned the government’s strategy.

The Congress accused the government of making a fundamental departure from the position that it had taken in Parliament on India-Pakistan ties during the last session. “Parliament should have been informed and still should be informed regarding the whole matter,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said,  insisting the government’s decision to hold NSA talks was disrespectful to Parliament. 

Opposition parties like the Congress have dubbed the meeting a betrayal. Criticising the Bangkok talks, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that having dialogue with Pakistan was pointless as their main goal was to destroy India by sponsoring terrorism here and added that no amount of talks would solve the strained ties between the two nations.

“Why is it so secret? There are so many flip flops regarding talks,” said Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress.  While Yashwant Sinha said, “BJP all along has been saying that terror and talks can’t go together. Terrorist attacks are going on throughout and India itself says that Pakistan is behind them. So what is the point then (to hold talks). Government owes it to the people of this country to tell them why they are resuming the dialogue.”

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj would make a statement on Thursday. Swaraj will travel on Tuesday for a multilateral conference in Islamabad, where she will also hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz.

Meanwhile, Aziz on Monday said the deadlock in Indo-Pak ties had eased to some extent and he was looking forward to the bilateral talks with Swaraj which would focus on the resumption of the composite dialogue process. “Sushma Swaraj is coming here on Tuesday and we will have a bilateral meet. The good thing is that the deadlock for our negotiation has ended.” said Aziz in Islamabad. Swaraj is arriving in Pakistan on Tuesday to attend the ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference and during her visit she is also expected to call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.