Congress asks Modi if he has 'vision and roadmap' for Balochistan

The Congress on Friday sought an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi if had any "vision and roadmap" for Balochistan.

Senior Congress spokesperson and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said this in answer to a question whether the party wanted the Modi government to take up the issue of Balochistan at the United Nations.

"It is the government of the day to take this call. First, the Prime Minister should explain whether he has a vision and roadmap," said Sharma.

"You don't engage with your strategic partners and particularly with neighbours with whom you have complex and typical relationship, un-demarcated borders or unsettled borders. Engagement with partner countries or neighbours cannot be in fits and starts. You cannot be like a pendulum, swing from one extreme to the other," he added.

Making a clear stand on Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), Sharma said: "Let us make a very clear differentiation - first the State of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh of which Gilgit and Baltistan were integral part, acceded to the Union of India by signing the Instrument Of Accession."

"Congress has been consistent on the stand that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is under illegal occupation of Pakistan," he added.

--IANS

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