Nothing more than Indo-Pak relations were discussed at Aiyar's residence: Ex-Army Chief rejects PM's allegation
Guests at a dinner hosted by suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar have denied that domestic politics figured in the discussions with Pakistani leaders after PM Modi’s allegation that Islamabad was trying to meddle in the Gujarat election.
Guests at a dinner hosted by suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar have denied that domestic politics figured in the discussions with Pakistani leaders after PM Modi’s allegation that Islamabad was trying to meddle in the Gujarat election.
Two-ex diplomats who were privy to the matter said that discussions revolved around India-Pakistan ties.
The meeting included former PM Manmohan Singh and former VP Hamid Ansari were present at the dinner for former Pakistan Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmud Kasuri’s visit.
The other guests at the dinner included the Pakistan High Commissioner, former FM K Natwar Singh, former Army Chief Deepak Kapoor, former diplomats Satinder Lambah, Salman Haider, TCA Raghavan, Sharat Sabharwal, Chinmaya Gharekhan.
General Kapoor, the 23rd Army Chief, confirmed he was part of the meeting and said they only discussed India-Pakistan relations. He was quoted saying by The Indian Express: “Yes, I was part of the meeting and we discussed nothing more than India-Pakistan relations.”
Gharekhan told NDTV: “It was entirely devoted to talking about relations between India and Pakistan. Inevitably, cross-border terrorism came up and Kashmir came up but no one, I am 100 per cent sure, not a single person talked about either Gujarat elections or the domestic situation in India or for that matter, the domestic situation in Pakistan.”
Lambah also said he there was just a general discussion on Indo-Pak relations.
The Congress Party on Monday came down heavily upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alleging that Pakistan was meddling in the Gujarat assembly polls and supporting Congress leader Ahmed Patel to have him elevated as the chief minister of the state.
Reacting to Modi's comments, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted that "India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on (its) own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible".
Dubbing Prime Minister Modi’s statement as 'irresponsible' and 'outrageous', Congress leader Anand Sharma demanded an apology from him.
‘Ex-Pakistan Foreign Minister was here to attend a wedding. There was a dinner organised for him in which there were former diplomats, former army chief among other dignitaries. Does the prime minister think they were all conspiring with Pakistan’ This is reprehensible. It's expected of the prime minister to use a language which is equivalent to his post. He should retract his statement and should apologise to maintain the decorum of his post,’ Sharma said.
He further said that Prime Minister Modi’s remarks show that the BJP has realised it was going to lose the Gujarat elections.
"The Prime Minister has said Congress is conspiring with Pakistan for Gujarat elections. Its outrageous. This is just an attempt to polarize ahead of second phase of voting in Gujarat polls.This also shows their desperation and that BJP's loss is now certain," he added.
Yesterday, while addressing a rally in Gujarat's Banaskantha, Prime Minister Modi alleged that former Pakistan Army director general Arshad Rafique was helping Patel to become the Gujarat chief minister.
"Former Pakistan Army director general Arshad Rafique was backing and willing to help make Ahmed Patel the chief minister," he said.
The prime minister had also questioned suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former vice-president Hamid Ansari’s meeting with the Pakistan High Commissioner.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal has asked India to stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate.