'Hug-plomacy has failed, Narendrabhai': Rahul Gandhi tweets on Hafiz Saeed's release, US Congress bill

PM Modi's "hug-plomacy" has failed, Rahul Gandhi has said, pointing to the end of 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's house arrest, and to the passage of a US bill that requires Islamabad to help de-link the Lashkar-e-Taiba from the Haqqani Network.

IndiaToday.in  | Written by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
New Delhi, November 25, 2017 | UPDATED 17:20 IST

When Narendra Modi met Donald Trump at the White House in June, the prime minister gave the US President three hugs, prompting a renowned news agency to devote a news story to that display of bonhomie. Five months later, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is still talking about it.

Modi's "hug-plomacy" has failed, Rahul said in a tweet Saturday, pointing to the end of 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's house arrest, and to the passage of a US bill that requires Islamabad to help de-link the Lashkar-e-Taiba from the Haqqani Network.

"More hugs urgently needed," Rahul said.

Rahul's tweet contains a link to a news report on the  National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn says the bill "provides $700 million for reimbursing Pakistan for monitoring the Pak-Afghan border but withholds half of the amount."

What's more, the US government can't issue a US $350 million waiver unless the American defense secretary "certifies to the congressional defence committees" that Pakistan is taking steps to deny the Haqqani network safe havens, curb the movement of its militants, disrupt its "fundraising and recruiting efforts," and detain its leaders and initiate legal proceedings aginst them, Dawn's report said.

"Policy makers in Washington feel that linking an India-specific group like LeT with the Haqqani Network could discourage Pakistan from cooperating with the US in the war in Afghanistan," it said.

Last month, when Donald Trump tweeted that he'd begun to "develop a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders," Rahul tweeted this.

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