Terming the situation in Afghanistan as ‘alaming’, the Congress on Monday questioned why the Narendra Modi government ‘refused’ to set in motion a plan to evacuate Indian citizens and protect India’s strategic assets there.
At a press conference, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it is a gross abdication of duty not to have an evacuation plan and asked the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister to clearly spell out “our policy for safe return of our citizens, embassy personnel as also our future relationship”.
“The Congress party stands solidly behind protecting India’s interests and expects a mature political and diplomatic response from our govt. over the complete collapse of the govt. in Afghanistan and Taliban takeover...The stunning silence of Narendra Modi govt. is deeply disturbing and highly intriguing, which is beyond any reasonable understanding,” Mr. Surjewala said.
“Modi government’s refusal to set in motion a well thought out plan to evacuate our citizens is a gross abdication of its duty and is totally unacceptable.”
He said the ‘unexplained silence” at this extremely critical juncture will give rise to a reasonable apprehension that the Modi government is hiding something from the country.
“We are still in the dark over Modi government’s role in Doha talks. Need of the hour is that the Modi government wakes up from its slumber and protects Indian citizens in Afghanistan and tells the country how it will tackle the dangerous situation in the immediate neighbourhood,” he said.
He said the Taliban and the Haqqani network connections with the ISI, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa are well known.
“There is an urgent need to revisit our geo-political interests in this background and its impact on J&K. Sadly, Modi government is oblivious to the same.”