Responding to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s remark on Sunday that his country dedicated its 69th Independence Day to “freedom of Kashmir,” the Congress sought an apology from the envoy and criticised the ruling BJP for “failing to ostracise Islamabad” globally.
“Firstly the government should have sent representatives in each country with factual dossiers and prove that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism. That way the government would have embarrassed the country [Pakistan] on a global scale,” senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told The Hindu . Mr. Singhvi said that ever since the BJP government came to power, the foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan had been in a “zigzag mode.” As a result, India was losing diplomatic dominance over the rival country.
“The government should look into why it has failed to get Pakistan isolated globally.” Mr. Singhvi said.
‘Breach of etiquette’
Expressing his dismay over Mr. Basit’s statement, Mr. Singhvi said it was a breach of diplomatic etiquette since the comment violated the sovereignty of India. “I think normally one would not give importance to such comments, but when it comes from the High Commissioner of a nation it has a full official flavour and colour to it. Pakistan will of course have to wait for millennia to even consider its wish being fulfilled, which they have expressed as the year of Kashmir ‘azadi’,” said Mr. Singhvi.
“It is also the failure of the Indian government’s foreign policy and Indo-Pak policy. It is vital that we repeat and reiterate that our policy remains the same that the whole of J&K and Ladakh is ours, including PoK,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said Pakistan should stop daydreaming about Kashmir, asserting that the State was an integral part of India.
