India should not engage with Pak in any sphere, says Abhishek Banerjee

Trinamool Congress National general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said that India must not engage with Pakistan in any sphere and the only engagement with that country should be on the battlefield.

In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP said that for decades, Pakistan has exported terror, bled India, causing irreparable loss to Indian lives and families.

"India must not engage with Pakistan in any sphere. The only engagement we should have with Pakistan is on the battlefield, and the only prize worth winning is Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir", he said in the post.

Banerjee said, "For decades, Pakistan has exported terror, bled our nation by causing irreparable loss to Indian lives and families. And yet, every now and then, we hear calls to keep politics out of sport. No! This has to stop", he added.

The TMC MP said that when a nation wages a proxy war, there is no neutral ground. "There is no cricket pitch wise enough to wash off the blood of our martyrs", he said.

"Our Tricolour flies high not because of the bat and ball, but because of the unmatched courage and valour of our armed forces. We honour our cricketers, and I deeply respect the game. But as a nation, we revere our soldiers. Those who stand guard while we cheer in stadiums, those who bleed while others play", he said in the post.

Banerjee also said, "That extending a handshake to a nation that fires bullets across our borders is not diplomacy - it's a bloody betrayal."  "Let justice, not entertainment, be our goal. If there is to be a match with Pakistan, let it be fought at the Line of Control (LoC) and let Pakistan-occupied J&K be the only trophy we seek", he said.

He added, "Anything less is an insult to our martyrs and an injustice and betrayal to the victims of Pahalgam. Period".