Tearing into Modi government's Pakistan policy, Congress today faulted it for continued uncertainty over Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, saying foreign policy is not conducted in such a way.
"The talks with Pakistan are schdeuled in four days. Till today, it is not clear whether they will be held or not...It is not the way foreign policy is conducted," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
He said no less a person than the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has "further compounded and confounded the confusion" that seems to have become this government's "hall mark" as far as dealing with extremely serious and sensitive issues of national security are concerned.
Singhvi said the NSA was reported to have told a newspaper in an interview that there would be "no peace talks now till Pakistan takes action against Pathankot terrorists and India is satisfied with Pakistan's efforts" and then denied the entire interview.
He said since just 4 days are left for the scheduled talks, rather than "attempting riddles and compounding the crisis", it will be good if the NSA and the Prime Minister told the nation about actions and responses in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack.
The Congress spokesman said government should tell the nation as to what are the 'actionable proofs and evidences' it has given to Pakistan and whether the Government of Pakistan acted on these evidences and to what extent.
The Prime Minister, he said, should also tell whether India is satisfied with Pakistan's actions.
"Are these actions sufficient enough to surmount the earlier stand of the Prime Minister as also the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that 'talks and terror can't go ahead simultaneously'?" he asked.
The nation is yet not clear about the happenings in Pathankot and the direction thereafter, 10 days after the "embarrassing mumbling" of Senior Ministers and "high optics" aerial survey by the Prime Minister, he said.
"Can the nation expect a clear statement by the External Affairs Minister or a spokesperson on this issue?" he wanted to know.
Singhvi said certain questions about the Pathankot attack
remained unanswered in the absence of any "substantive response" on part of the government.
He asked why was not a lead agency earmarked and no unified command and control mechanism specified when the government had "specific actionable intelligence inputs" following the carjacking of the SP of the Punjab police?
"Is it true that the command and control of this multi-agency operation was resolved when the inspector general (IG), NSG, and Army had a tussle over the issue?" he wanted to know.
Besides, he sought to know whether there was no effort to place additional troops to protect the perimeter wall of the air base which should have been secured and patrolled by at least one infantry battalion.
"This was a glaring lapse. At 3.30 am on January 2 the terrorists struck at the DSC mess where unarmed soldiers - despite the alert - were preparing breakfast," he said.
Noting that for counter-terrorist operations, a lead agency and a commander for single-point command and control must be earmarked, he asked whether there was any.
Targeting Punjab's ruling Akali dal and the Badal family, he alleged the state has become a "cesspit of corruption and drug smuggling" ruled by a "venal" family and party that have brought "India's most dynamic province to its knees".
"India cannot afford such mismanagement of a strategic border state. What were the steps taken by the Centre in the past 19 months to break the nexus of drug trafficking and terrorism in the border state, after the Gurdaspur and the Udhampur attacks?" he said.
