Jaipur: AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot Wednesday called upon the Government of India to clarify its stance on US President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding mediation between India and Pakistan.
Expressing his concern, Pilot said Trump not only failed to address the core issue of terrorism but also attempted to equate India with Pakistan and bring the Kashmir issue into international discourse.
“The US president has claimed that he secured a ceasefire between India and Pakistan using increased trade as leverage. That statement is shocking,” Pilot told reporters here.
“India has fought several wars, but this is the first time a ceasefire has been declared by a foreign president. A few hours later, our DGMO (director general of military operations) confirmed the ceasefire. This sequence of events raises serious questions,” he said.
Criticising Trump’s repeated omission of terrorism in his statements, Pilot said state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan is the real issue between India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, Trump has not mentioned it even once, he said.
“Neither the US administration nor Vice President (J D Vance) has condemned Pakistan’s role in cross-border terrorism or offered any assurance that it will stop,” the Congress leader said.
Pilot also rejected the US attempt to bring Kashmir into the conversation, saying it is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and is not open to third-party intervention.
“Our issue is terrorism, not Kashmir. By dragging Kashmir into it, Trump has unnecessarily complicated the matter,” the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister added.
Recalling a resolution passed unanimously by Parliament in 1994 calling for the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Pilot urged the government to convene a special session of Parliament to reaffirm that commitment and remove any prevailing confusion.
“The 1994 resolution is on record. In light of recent developments and the misleading narrative, a special session should be called and the resolution should be reiterated so there is no ambiguity about India’s position,” he said.
Pilot said Trump’s narrative attempts to re-hyphenate India and Pakistan.
“Because of the efforts in the last 20 years, we have grown to a larger economy. We have a global presence, and people were talking about Indo-China when it was about economy, population, military, etc., but this development has brought us back to the early 90s when India and Pakistan were hyphenated, which is not a good sign,” he said.
He said India was nowhere compared to Pakistan.
Pilot said somewhere an attempt is being made to weigh India and Pakistan on the same scale once again, and that is not a good sign for diplomacy, foreign policy and India’s future.
He appreciated the defence forces for successfully carrying out Operation Sindoor and destroying the infrastructure of terror with precision.
“Operation Sindoor is a brilliant operation and the precision with which our forces have struck is excellent,” he said.
PTI
