Early Times Report
Jammu, May 28: So, it has happened. The Pulwama murder of 44 CRPF Jawans continues to shape and guide the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan. This, despite the fact that the Pakistani Prime Minister only on Sunday rang up PM Modi, congratulated him on his great general election triumph and urged him to resume the talk process between the two countries to resolve all outstanding issues, including the so-called issue of Kashmir. This, despite the fact that Pakistan's Foreign Minister on the same day said that Pakistan wanted to talk to India to resolve all the issues between the two countries. But nothing impressed PM Modi. He appreciated the national mood and national sentiment and didn't change his stand: Talks and terror couldn't go hand-in-hand.
On Monday, PM Modi cleared all the cobwebs of confusion and suggested that New Delhi was not in a mood to condone the crime Pakistani butchers committed at Kashmir's Pulwama in February. The PMO also sent a clear message to the Kashmiri leaders, including Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, that New Delhi was not prepared to oblige them by conceding their demand that PM Modi should talk to Pakistan to resolve Jammu & Kashmir. The PMO didn't extend invitation to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to participate in the PM Modi's oath-taking ceremony on May 30.
Who did the PMO extended invitation: After inviting SAARC leaders for his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, Narendra Modi this time invited BIMSTEC leaders.
BIMSTEC is a grouping of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. All these countries are dependent on the Bay of Bengal. And, it was a major foreign policy of the NDA dispensation.
"The President will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the Prime Minister and other members of the Union council of ministers at 7pm on May 30, 2019, at Rashtrapati Bhavan," reads the statement issued on Sunday.
The BJP-led NDA has 353 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The BJP's own strength in the Lok Sabha is 303. |
