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| Yashwant questions PM Modi's Pakistan policy | | Talks a futile exercise | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 19: former Union Finance and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday questioned the decision of the Union Government to hold National Security Advisor-level talks between India and Pakistan and said nothing positive will emerge out of the proposed talks. "We have talked to Pakistan for 70 years, but nothing positive came out of the talks. Nothing would emerge out of the scheduled talks in Delhi between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz. It would be another futile exercise. In principle, I am opposed to the idea of talks with Pakistan. It would be merely wastage of time," he said while talking to a leading news agency. In other words, he questioned the Pakistan policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi without taking his name. Not only Yaswant Sinha, there are many leaders in the BJP who hold similar views on Pakistan and say that Pakistan could not be trusted and that it always considered the unilateral gestures from the Indian side as signs of its weakness.
Apart from the likes of Sinha, almost all the former Army Commanders and diplomats have also expressed the view that it would be in the national interest if the scheduled meeting at New Delhi is cancelled and a tough message sent to Pakistan that India meant business and it would not tolerate cross-border terrorism, ceasefire violations and bombardment on civilians. Besides, they have urged the Union Government to strengthen its war machine as anything could happen anytime considering the escalation on the borders and Line of Control. "The situation as it prevails along the international border and Line of Control is alarming. Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked firing for many days now. It has made the life of the border people a veritable hell on earth. The provocations are grave as they have converted the Indian villages along the border and Line of Control into battlefields. The situation is not ripe for engaging Pakistan. The situation warrants a very tough stand on Pakistan," many among them have said.
Former Army Commanders and dimplomats do not agree with those in Kashmir who say there is no substitute to the reconciliatory policy as was done in 2003, that Prime Minister Modi has the opportunity to revive the process of reconciliation in the sub-continent and the prevailing alarming situation along the borders in Jammu & Kashmir necessitates the urgency of reviving the composite dialogue process, sooner the better. Theirs is a right approach and what they have said and opined cannot be ignored. The bottom line is that New Delhi should not talk to Pakistan which has made terror a state policy and that talks with Pakistan should be held only after Islamabad destroyed terror training camps within Pakistan and In PoJK and stopped exporting terror to India on a permanent basis.
Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz would meet in New Delhi on August 23 and 24. Reports suggest that while Doval would hand over to Aziz another dossier containing details on the involvement of Pakistanis in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Aziz is all set to rake up the issue of Samjhauta Express and the alleged involvement of India in the subversive activities in Balochistan. Reports from Islamabad, in addition, suggest that Aziz would rake up issues like Kashmir, Siachen and Indus Water Treaty and take the opportunity to reiterate the Pakistani stand on the Indian soil that Islamabad is committed to give diplomatic, political and moral support to the "freedom fighters" in Kashmir. Reports have further suggested that Aziz would also ask Doval to facilitate Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two nations and also put pressure on New Delhi to restart composite dialogue so that all bilateral issues between the two countries were resolved to the satisfaction of Pakistan, as also to the satisfaction of the Pakistani agents in Kashmir Valley.
Reports from Pakistan, in other words, suggest that Aziz would be quite aggressive during his talks with his Indian counterpart. Now that Pakistan has made its intentions public, it is time for PM Modi to review his whole stand on the scheduled talks in New Delhi. The best thing for him to do would be to order cancellation of the talks. This precisely is what the Indian nation in general and the victims of Pakistani terrorism want. It is, however, difficult to say if PM Modi would appreciate national sentiment - difficult because all the BJP spokespersons have been declaring that the scheduled talks will not be cancelled whatever the provocation. |
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