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As the government announced that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Pakistan Tuesday for a conference in Islamabad, where she will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, the Congress said the government had made a “fundamental departure” in its position on engagement with Pakistan and of “disrespecting” Parliament.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma said the Opposition had expected the government to inform the House about the talks held between PMs Narendra Modi and Sharif in Paris recently.
“We did expect that the PM would take Parliament and the leaders of the opposition into confidence about the direction and the roadmap that the government had in mind. Yesterday, the national security advisers of the two countries met. We have no objection to that, but they were accompanied by the foreign secretaries. That is why I used the words ‘fundamental departure’,” Sharma said.
“The government had said that the July 26 Ufa statement between the two prime ministers, from the Indian perspective, meant that an understanding was reached only to discuss the issue of terrorism, which was contested by Pakistan, and the NSA-level talks were called off. Now, the very fact that the foreign secretaries have accompanied means that the scope and the agenda has been expanded… This is disrespect to Parliament — that Parliament is not informed as to what developments are taking place.” Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi responded Sushma would make a statement on December 10 after she returns.
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