New Delhi : National Security Adviser Ajit Doval came under attack on Monday even as he tried to wriggle out of an interview to Hindi daily Bhaskar wherein he had purportedly said that the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan have been “cancelled.” Pressed for an explanation, Doval stressed that he speaks to many journalists and he did not remember giving any such interview on cancellation of the talks.
However, the daily put out excerpts of the interview on its online website. It quotes Doval as stating that “India has cancelled the 15th January Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks,” asserting that “no peace talks will be held now till Pakistan takes action against Pathankot terrorists and India is satisfied with Pakistan’s efforts.”
Doval has also come under criticism for mishandling the Pathankot attack by airlifting the NSG commandos from Delhi when the Indian Army has almost 50,000 troops and enough commandos in Pathankot itself to take on any kind of terror contingency.
It was Doval and his Pakistani counterpart who had finalized in Bangkok the mechanism for resumption of talks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif met in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of the Climate Change Conference. This was followed by Sushma Swaraj visiting Pakistan to attend a Heart of Asia Conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of FS talks under “bilateral comprehensive dialogue” process. In a surprise move, Modi had also visited Lahore on December 25 to greet Nawaz Sharif on his birthday. The Congress party attacked the government over the uncertainty on the FS-level talks, saying foreign policy is not conducted in such a way. Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said no less a person than Doval has “further compounded and confounded the confusion” that seems to have become this government’s “hall mark” as far as dealing with extremely serious and sensitive issues of national security are concerned.
”Any individual or organization that hurts the country should be given the same pain but how, when and where should be India’s choic — Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar”
