Congress asks Centre to detail Pakistan policy

Spokesperson Manish Tewari asks PM to spell out Pak policy, as party claims Modi is in a catch-22 situation

The Congress plans to make the most of the situation even as the BJP-led Centre hotly debated ways to respond to the Uri terror attack, in which 17 soldiers were killed.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish those behind the attack, the Congress questioned his Pakistan policy. It reminded him of his tweets as Gujarat CM in which he had slammed the previous united Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. “We want to ask the PM to spell out his Pakistan policy, if there is one,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

Congress strategists said Modi, who swept the 2014 national polls due to his hawkish image, was in a Catch-22-like situation. If he failed to take strong action against Pakistan, he would be more vulnerable to the Opposition’s attacks. Executing a counter-strike would not be easy for the Centre, given the sensitive nature of the issue, said Congress strategists.

Tewari read out earlier comments made by Modi, while noting that unlike the BJP, the Congress did not believe in playing politics over an issue that involved national security. He further said if the Centre wished, the Congress was ready to offer some advice on how to frame a response to such situations.

“We will not react like you. The Congress has ruled the country for some years and has some experience in dealing with such situations. If the government approaches us, we can give our advice,” said Tewari in a sarcastic tone. Noting the Centre “lacked strategic sense and tactical planning” when it came to dealing with Pakistan, the Congress leader said the government must assure people “that there would be no repeat of an Uri-like terror attack on an Army camp.”

The Congress invoked memories of the 1999 Kandahar plane hijack episode, in which then NDA external affairs minister Jaswant Singh had escorted the three terrorists to Afghanistan and released them in exchange for 176 hostages.

“The government says that Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad was behind the Uri attack. We have no reason not to believe them. But we want to remind them that Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the three terrorists released in the Kandahar episode, later founded the Jaish-e-Mohammad,” said Tewari.

The Congress blamed the Centre for only focusing on grabbing newspaper headlines and said that it lacked the depth needed to deal with a troublesome neighbour like Pakistan.

“The fact is that we have lost 17 soldiers and the vital question is what the government’s response is going to be,” said Tewari, adding that his party would support the Centre if it had a well thought-out plan but would raise questions if there was shoddy execution.