US calls Pak 'phenomenal partner': Is it not setback for India? Congress asks PM
Reportedly Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir is invited to Washington DC on US Army Day on June 14, Congress said, asking isn't this a big setback for India?
The Congress continued to push Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call for an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament.
Even as the party stepped up its tirade against the PM, urging him to set aside his "stubbornness" the Congress also pointed on Thursday (June 12) that the US is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is hyphenating India and Pakistan.
With US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), calling Pakistan a "phenomenal partner" in the counterterrorism world, the Congress asked what PM Modi had to say about this and whether it was not a "diplomatic setback".
Further, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh had also cited a media report which claimed that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir is scheduled to visit Washington DC for the US Army Day celebrations and said this is "another huge diplomatic setback for India".
Big setback for India
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh asserted in a post on X that decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily.
"It is reported that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir has been invited to the event organised in Washington DC on the occasion of US Army Day (14 June). This news is a big setback for India from a diplomatic and strategic point of view," Ramesh said in the post in Hindi.
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"This is the same person who used provocative and inciting language just before the Pahalgam terror attack - the question arises what is America's intention," the Congress general secretary said.
Matter of serious concern
Recently, the head of the US Central Command also stated that Pakistan is a "great partner" of America in the fight against terrorism, Ramesh said.
"The Modi government is saying that Operation Sindoor is still going on. In such a situation, the Pakistani army chief's participation as a guest in the US Army Day is definitely a matter of serious concern," he said.
Ramesh said the Trump administration is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is "hyphenating" India and Pakistan.
"The prime minister is welcoming the delegation that returned after informing the entire world, including the US, about Pakistan's role in supporting terrorism, and at the same time, such news is coming from Washington DC makes India's diplomatic position even more uncomfortable," Ramesh said.
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"The prime minister should now leave aside his stubbornness and concern for prestige and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, so that the nation can clearly express its collective will and a concrete roadmap can be presented to the country," he said.
Decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily, he added.
The Opposition party also referred to remarks by a Trump administration spokesperson highlighting President Donald Trump's diplomatic and negotiating skills as having the power to end "generational differences", wondering whether something is cooking in Washington DC.
It asked Prime Minister Modi to issue a clarification on it.
Not a binary switch
US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has said the United States has to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India, and noted that it cannot be a "binary switch" where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi.
Kurilla made the comments during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
Pakistan is "in an active counterterrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world", the general said.
Kurilla's comments came days after an all-party Indian parliamentary delegation visited the US to convey India's strong resolve to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
(With inputs from agencies)