Will government spell stand on Mehbooba's call for talks with Pakistan, asks Congress

Attacking the Narendra Modi government over lack of policy towards Pakistan, the Congress on Tuesday asked it to spell out its response to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that India should be talking to the neighbouring country.

It also asked the government when would it act against terror.

"The NDA-BJP government has come out with a very ingenuous formulation that terror and talks cannot go together but that does not preclude us from talking about terror.

"What we would like to ask them is - that when would the time of talking about terror be over and when would you start acting on terror?" said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

"This country does not want you to talk to Pakistan about terror, it wants you to act on the commitment that you had made to the people of India that you would act on the question of terror," he added.

The Congress said that there have been 206 major terror attacks in the past 45 months and it 44 days of 2018 has commenced, there have been 160 major ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the international border.

Citing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman who said India would respond to Pakistan "at an appropriate time", he asked the government if it had any policy towards Pakistan, and if som what was it.

"At a point in time when our brave soldiers are combating the depredations of thee terrorists, the ally of the BJP - the PDP with whom they are running a government has come out with a statement that we should talk to Pakistan," said Tewari, adding this had "very profound national security implications" and the BJP should spell out where they stand on this demand.

--IANS

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