Cong for special Parliament session to declare Pak a terrorist state

New Delhi, September 26

The Congress on Monday demanded that a special session of Parliament be convened to declare Pakistan a terrorist state in the wake of the Uri terror attack.

It also alleged that the Narendra Modi government has responded only with "jumlas (gimmicks) and rhetoric" since the attack took place and favoured withdrawal of the most favoured nation status to Pakistan and imposition of economic sanctions on it.

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"We believe extreme situation demands extreme decisions. By now, Pakistan should have been declared a terrorist state. They failed in that also," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters, accusing the government of doing "precious little" to put Islamabad in the dock.

"We demand near absolute economic sanctions on Pakistan. There should be a special session of Parliament to discuss our security situation and declare Pakistan a terrorist state," he said.

The government's response to the attack has been only through "rhetoric and jumlas" and the Prime Minister's speech at Kozhikode demonstrated "strategic ambiguity". India is "looking weak, having failed to deliver meaty blows" to Pakistan, Singhvi said.

"We do not want this to lead to a strategic confusion, make India a laughing stock. It should not let the world think that India has an aimless political strategy. Aimless political strategy is not a synonym of strategic restraint," he said targeting the government.

Noting that the Congress also believed in strategic restraint, Singhvi said that such restraint in the face of such provocation should not mean the absence of a strategic response.

"People of India want concrete actions against the rogue state of Pakistan," he said, adding the terror attacks at Uri and Pathankot have together taken a toll not seen in the last 20-22 years.

“We demand the considerable scaling down of Pakistan's High Commission in Delhi," he said and wondered why there was delay in considering and finalising the asylum request of the Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti.

In a veiled attack on Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, he said, "Political and administrative accountability" of the highest offices have to be also fixed in the context of those responsible for security.

Singhvi alleged that the Prime Minister's message at Kozhikode, has "unfortunately delivered unsatisfactory and somewhat worrisome response".

"India is looking weak as it failed to deliver meaty blows to Pakistan. Security situation is under serious threat and what the nation wants is concrete action against Pakistan, a rogue state flourishing under the government of that country and its military," he said.

Singhvi said the UPA government came out with a series of measures to tackle terror after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and had activated the concept of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

"We fought for it. Hardly one or two states objected. But the Central government under the NDA has not even notified NCTC," he alleged.

The party alleged that similar is the fate of NATGRID - a centralised Internet-based information grid to fight all forms of terrorism.

"It is sad, it is distressing and it is astonishing that NATGRID has still not been activated. In fact, I am sorry to say that the chief executive officer of NATGRID was sacked after this government came to power," Singhvi alleged.

“Four hubs for the NSG commandos were created. The NDA had promised two more hubs, but nothing has happened," he claimed. — PTI