Congress flays Modi on Pakistani shelling in border areas

The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be ashamed of the incessant violation of India's territorial integrity by a belligerent Pakistan and killing of civilians as well as soldiers.

"The nation today is faced with an acute situation on the security and economic front. We have a belligerent Pakistan shelling our borders and killing our jawans and civilians," Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh told media persons here.

"The prime minister needs to feel ashamed of a belligerent Pakistan, incessantly violating our borders and killing our jawans and civilians," he said.

"Over 100 heavy mortar shells have landed in Jammu and Kashmir's border village of Balakote since the Independence Day afternoon. The prime minister did not send a tough message to Pakistan from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day," he said.

In fact, the Congress leader said, Modi did not speak a syllable about foreign policy or cross-border terrorism in his one-and-a-half-hour long speech.

"This is the first time since the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that Pakistani mortar shells have landed in the Manjakote area. Since August 15, nearly a dozen shells have landed in the area," he added.

He alleged that Modi's Pakistan policy swung like a "wild pendulum".

India on Sunday summoned the Pakistani envoy to lodge a protest and convey anger over unprovoked firing with high calibre weapons by Pakistani troops on India's civilian population on the border.

R.P.N. Singh said it was ironical that the BJP was claiming that Modi was representing India on the world stage thereby enhancing India's prestige. "In reality, he has earned the dubious distinction of being the first world leader to berate and insult his predecessors on foreign soil and negate India's proud achievements, just for political partisanship," he said.

"We would also like to set the record straight that it was on account of a robust bilateral policy followed by India with regards to the United Arab Emirates since 1971, the year in which the UAE was created, that the country has the largest Indian expat population and an increasingly burgeoning trade which has constantly seen investments flowing to India," the Congress leader added.

"It was Indira Gandhi who visited the UAE first and the country is proud of the good relations with the UAE that followed, aided by successive governments," he added.