The Hindu : Front Page : Nation’s honour pledged: Yashwant Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Nation’s honour pledged: Yashwant Sinha

Anita Joshua

Congress backs Manmohan on India-Pakistan joint statement

NEW DELHI: The Congress came out in full support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday when the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to put him in the dock over the India-Pakistan joint statement delinking action on terror from dialogue.

With the Opposition pointing to reported differences within the Congress over the joint statement, Congress members closed ranks to applaud Dr. Singh — when he intervened in the discussion on his recent overseas visits — and to fight back uncharitable references.

Initiating the discussion, Yashwant Sinha of the BJP accused the Prime Minister of pledging the nation’s honour by agreeing to the joint statement with Pakistan. This statement, he added, had struck at the very foundations of India’s foreign policy.

Questioning the rationale in agreeing to a dialogue on “the entire gamut of bilateral relations”, and accepting that both countries were victims of terror, Mr. Sinha said the latter had equated India and Pakistan on the issue of terrorism. “The distinction between the victim and the perpetrator has been completely obliterated.”

When Mr. Sinha attacked him for agreeing to the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement, and asked if Pakistan had sent a dossier detailing India’s role in the strife in the region, Dr. Singh made a momentary intervention to state that he had received no such dossier. The reply satisfied Mr. Sinha.

The charge of leading the Congress counter was given to P.C. Chacko, who sought to point out that never before had Pakistan admitted its hand in terror attacks on India as it had in the Mumbai terror attacks. This, he said, was in sharp contrast to the follow-up after the attack on the Parliament House.

As Mr. Sinha left the House midway during Mr. Chacko’s intervention, Congress members booed and applauded their colleague’s reference to Dr. Singh as someone who had the support of the people, unlike the BJP which had been rejected twice in a row.

On the view that the joint statement should be “trashed,” Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh said that whatever Dr. Singh might say to clarify the statement, a wrong message had gone out.

Drawing parallels between the trouble the government faced over the India-U.S. nuclear deal and the joint statement, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) said that while the party stood behind Dr. Singh as one over the deal, its spokespersons this time round were waffling.

Also see:

Analysis: Missing the wood for the trees

India and the Baloch insurgency

INS Arihant a destabilising step: Pak

"Wait till Manmohan speaks"

Congress breaks its silence

No govt.-party rift over Pak: Manmohan

Composite dialogue only after Pakistan’s action

Use same force against terrorists: Krishna

No ‘sell-out’ at Sharm-el-Sheikh; Pakistan forced to admit terror link - News analysis

We will not accept delinking: BJP

No dilution of our stand: Manmohan