NSA mum about terror dossier remarks

After receiving flak for his remarks on Pakistan and the new US administration, national security adviser (NSA) MK Narayanan has clarified his position without discussing the terror dossier issue, contradicted by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee on Tuesday politely rebuffed Narayanan’s thumbs up to Islamabad on the terror dossier by emphasisng that Pakistan had not officially got back to India. The NSA, in an interview, had told Karan Thapar that Islamabad had reverted back to New Delhi with a series of queries. Narayanan’s clarifications on Wednesday, however, did not discuss this sensitive issue.

Instead, he blamed mediapersons for taking out “selective quotes”. “…the reference to the situation in Pakistan and the role of former president Musharraf were also made in the context of specific questions put forward by the interviewer. Selective quotes taken out of context from the detailed answers have tended to give a distorted idea of what was actually said,” the NSA said in a statement.

He added that the underlying theme of the reply to the question on Indo-American relations is about the high expectations India has from the Obama administration and the hope that it would be possible for India to make US president Obama appreciate India’s position and views on the region, including Kashmir.

The clarification, however, only proves that the NSA is under pressure to follow the official government line on Pakistan and ensure he does not speak out of turn.