BrahMos missile incident: Tewari suggests Indo-Pak dialogue on nuclear issues

New Delhi, March 29

Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari on Tuesday said the recent inadvertent launch of BrahMos missile presented a strong case for the initiation of an institutional dialogue with Pakistan on the nuclear issue.

Speaking in Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, Tewari referred to the March 15 statement of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue as “responsible”.

“Defence Minister was being responsible on a sensitive issue. I have no quibble with his statement. However, facts which have emerged in the public space suggest that Pakistan had actually prepared a retaliatory strike when the missile entered their territory. The trajectory of the missile had a large number of civilian aircraft in its vicinity and there could have been an unintended catastrophe. We were lucky on that day. This is an extremely sensitive issue. A court of enquiry has been instituted but there is a strong case for an institutionalised dialogue with Pakistan on the nuclear issues,” former minister Tewari said.