Congress leader and cabinet minister in Punjab government Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Thursday, insisted that India should start a dialogue with neighboring Pakistan and build diplomatic pressure on them in order to find a long-term solution to end the terrorist organizations operating from across the border.
The already strained India-Pakistan relations were brought to the brink of breaking after Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out a terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Srinagar, causing the death of 44 CRPF personnel. India then retaliated with airstrikes inside Pakistan, destroying a Jaish terror camp across LOC.
The whole world tried their best to keep the situation from escalating and India has stated that it will continue to retaliate unless Pakistan stops the terror organizations from operating from their ground and hand over terrorists like Masood Azhar.
Sidhu, meanwhile said that “I stand by my conviction that dialogue and diplomatic pressure will count for a great deal in seeking a long-term solution to the presence and practice of terror outfits that operate within and across the border. We have a choice. The solution to terror is peace, development and progress and not unemployment, hatred, and fear.”
This comes after Pakistan PM Imran Khan invited Indian PM Narendra Modi for talks and clamored for peace after India embarrassed Pakistan by entering its airspace and destroying terror camps on Pakistan soil.
“I stand by my country. I am the son of a freedom fighter, and the true test of my patriotism is courage. I stand against the fear that keeps many of us silent,” Sidhu said.
“A sentiment our Prime Minister echoed when he said ‘Our fight is against terrorism and enemies of humanity. Our fight is for Kashmir not against Kashmir, not against Kashmiris.’ A sentiment our External Affairs Minister shared when she said ‘Our fight is not with Pakistan, our fight is with the terror establishment’,” Sidhu said.
Earlier, Sidhu came under fire for defending Pakistan and asking whether a nation can be blamed for a handful of people, after the Pulwama terrorist attack.
An IAF pilot was captured by Pakistan after his plane crashed in midst of falling a Pakistan F-16 fighter jet. This happened as Indian Air Force stopped Pakistani planes, who had entered the Indian air space and made an unsuccessful attempt to target Indian military installations in retaliatory strikes that sparked fears of war.
The IAF sources identified the pilot as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. On this Sidhu said, “no son of our soil should be separated from his loved ones as fighter pilot Abhinandan is today. An escalation would mean many more incidents like this. Irreparable loss and both nations going to a point of no return.”
Sidhu even cited words of former India PM and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee that “our objective should be to firmly deal with terrorism and its sponsors, financiers, and arms suppliers. At the same time, our doors should always be open for processes which would restore peace, development, and progress to societies which have been devastated by terrorism over many generations.”
“I stand against the managed discourse that stifles dissent and must rely on cyber armies, trolls, and goons to silence debate. I stand against the fear of those who know that their only power is in fabrication and fakery,” he said.
“We can choose to be patriots. To ask what kind of nationalism this is that turns Indian against Indian. But we have a choice. That choice is courage. Courage is contagious,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
