AMID a demand for a toughly-worded resolution at the All India Congres Committee meeting on
Sunday (January 20), Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signalled to Islamabad that it should mend its ways if it wanted friendship with India.
“We want friendship and good relationship with all including Pakistan, but how is it possible if it resorts to such actions?” Singh was quoted by party leaders as saying at the Congress’s Chintan Shivir (brainstorming conclave) in Jaipur.
His remarks came in the backdrop of the killing of two Indian soldiers, one of whom was beheaded by Pakistani troops earlier this month and the resultant tension along the LoC in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh attended a meeting of the Congress group on ‘India and the World’ headed by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and attended by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Maharastra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Party leader Rashid Alvi said that after the Prime Minister’s “strong” message to Pakistan, the opposition also became quiet and it also brought Islamabad to its senses.
Party leaders said several delegates attending the meeting of the group, including several from Youth Congress and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), made a strong pitch for a toughly-worded resolution against Pakistan at the AICC meeting slated on Sunday (January 20).
Earlier, the Chintan Shivir saw party chief Sonia Gandhi making it plain that India’s dialogue with Pakistan must be based on accepted principles of civilized behaviour.
“Better and closer relations with our immediateneighbours will not only make for regional peace, they will also have a positive impact on some of our own border states,” she said in her opening remarks at the Shivir.
“However, let us be clear. Our dialogue must be based on accepted principles of civilized behavior.”
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid also spoke on the sidelines of the Shivir about “positive indications” from Pakistan for its proposal for Foreign Minister-level talks to resolve the heightened tension along the Line of Control (LoC).
After the meeting, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told reporters that discussions on the country’s foreign policy, relations with neighbouring countries including Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan, were held.
He also said the issue of India’s demand for a permanent seat in UN’s Security Council was among other issues discussed in the meeting.
