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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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