NEW DELHI: Union Minister Farooq Abdullah today said passing a resolution in Parliament against Pakistan following Islamabad’s anti-India resolution serves no purpose but will strengthen ‘enemies’ across the border.
“A resolution in Parliament will not serve any purpose. Rather it strengthens enemies sitting across the border,”Mr Abdullah told reporters outside Parliament.
Pakistan’s National Assembly yesterday had passed a resolution condemning ‘unprovoked aggression by Indian military forces’ on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and extending support to the ‘struggle’ of the Kashmiri people.
“The talks between India and Pakistan should continue. We have a problem with Pakistan and that problem cannot be settled through war.
So how do you settle it? By talks. You have to find conditions to talk,” Mr Abdullah said. Discontinuing talks between the two countries will only strengthen the hands of terrorists.
“If you want to strengthen their hands, then don’t talk,” he said. Islamabad’s resolution is Pakistan’s stand on the August 6 incident in which five Indian soldiers were killed when a patrol party of the Indian Army, comprising a Non-Commissioned Officer and five other ranks, were ambushed on Indian side of the Line of Control in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
Parliament had rejected the resolutions passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan making “baseless and unfounded allegations against the Indian Army and the people of India”.
Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari placed a counter-resolution in their respective Houses, which said, “There should be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind including members of the Pakistan National Assembly that it was the Pakistan Army that was involved in the unprovoked attack on an Indian Army patrol on our side of the LoC on August six, 2013.
“It is unfortunate that Pakistan chose to indulge in such unprovoked attacks at a time when efforts were being made to establish a long lasting framework of peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties so that both the countries may henceforth devote their resources and energies to pressing task of advancing the welfare of their people.” The resolution cleared India’s position vis-a-vis Pakistan once again saying India was not a threat to the neighbouring country or its people.
“India is not a threat to Pakistan or the people of Pakistan. It is the terrorist groups that have been nurtured by Pakistan to target India and have become the biggest threat to peace in the region,” it said.
Condemning the action of Pakistan Army, the resolution reiterated that the entire Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.
“The entire Jammu and Kashmir including the territory forcibly and illegally occupied by Pakistan is an integral part of India and will remain so” it said.
The Lok Sabha, paying tributes to the security personnel killed in Pakistani firing, called upon Pakistan to abide by the 2003 ceasefire along the international border and the LoC both in letter and spirit.
Last week, Defence Minister A K Antony had said in Parliament that after the Army chief Gen Bikram Singh had visited the area and gone into the details on the matter, it was clear that a group of Pakistani Army was involved in the attack from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir side, killing the brave jawans of the Indian Army.
“We all know nothing happens from Pakistan side without support, assistance, facilitation and often direct involvement of Pakistani Army,” Mr Antony had said.
