archive: Sonia flays third party intervention
Sonia flays third party intervention
Observer Political Bureau
The Observer
June 26, 1999
Title: Sonia flays third party intervention
Author: Observer Political Bureau
Publication: The Observer
Date: June 26, 1999
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday charged the Vajpayee
Government with allowing "a kind of third party intervention" on the
sensitive Kargil issue and said that the Government's reluctance to
convene the Rajya Sabha session on the issue was perplexing.
"Yes, its a kind of Third Party intervention," Ms Gandhi said while
answering a question as to whether the visit of United States
assistance secretary of state Gibson Lanpher to India represented
Third Party intervention on the Kargil affair.
She also lambasted the Vajpayee Government for dilly-dallying on
convening a special Rajya Sabha session on the Kargil issue.
"I can't really understand the Government's reluctance to convene
Rajya Sabha session," she said, adding that even during the 1962
border conflict with China, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
had kept Parliament totally informed and had come out with nine "White
Papers" on the situation.
Briefing media later, the Chief of the Party's foreign Cell, Natwar
Singh, said that the Government's reluctance to convene the Rajya
Sabha session smacked of undemocratic traits.
"In a democracy, debate is basic. Nothing should be swept under the
carpet. It is not undemocratic to ask questions. Only totalitarian
regimes smother debate/discussions," Mr Singh said, quoting Nehru's
observation in Parliament during the 1962 crisis.
He said that the Rajya Sabha would be a perfect platform to have
various points of view to be expressed.
Mr Singh said that rather than eulogising over statements issued by
G-8 countries or by other fora, the Government should take pro-active
steps to apprise international media of our views, similar to what
Indira Gandhi did during 1971 crisis.
Assailing Indian media for giving undue importance to the visit of a
"joint secretary rank official of the US," Mr Singh said that media
should be more circumvent in judging such visits.
"You flash a low-rank official's photograph on the front page, whereas
even our Prime Minister does not find any mention in their media when
on an official visit to US," he remarked.
Reacting to Army chief V P Malik's reported comment that Indian army
was facing shortages of equipment, the Congress has said that the
Government should explain what was being done to deal with these
shortages.
The Congress has charged the Government's various arms with giving
conflicting views on the real situation in Kargil.
"There have been conflicting the and confusing statements by various
Government spokesmen on the likely duration of the conflict and on the
necessity of crossing the Line of Control (LoC). It is essential that
the Government should speak on these sensitive issues with greater
consistency, restraint and clarity so as to avoid unnecessary
confusion and miscalculation by the enemy," the Congress maintained.
Mr Singh, however, said that if Pakistan pulls its troops and
intruders from the Kargil, the dialogue process should be resumed.
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