Congress plans to corner govt. over foreign secretary statement

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The proceedings of the parliamentary panel on external affairs that discussed India’s surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir may remain a secret, but it’s now an open war between the Opposition and the government with the Congress expressing fear that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar could get sacked for “speaking the truth” to the panel.

At the core of the war-of-words is Jaishankar’s reported statement to the panel on a question whether India had carried out such strikes before. “If you ask me whether there were strikes earlier across the LoC, I would say yes. But whether there were strikes across LoC which destroyed launch pads earlier I would say no,” the foreign secretary as saying.

Curiously, even as Congress party seized the opportunity saying it was a vindication of the stand that India had carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan during the UPA dispensation, panel chairman and party leader Shashi Tharoor maintained silence. Among the more vocal was former home minister P Chidambaram. “I agree with the Foreign Secretary and I thank him for setting the record straight,” he told.