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This is an archive article published on May 23, 2002

Sonia balances support with a sting

The Congress made it clear today that the diplomacy route must not be exchanged for a military option in the ongoing efforts to stop cross-b...

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The Congress made it clear today that the diplomacy route must not be exchanged for a military option in the ongoing efforts to stop cross-border terrorism.

Emerging from a two-and-a-half-hour Working Committee meeting this afternoon, Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave clear indications that while her party broadly supported the steps the Government was taking to tackle Pakistan on the terrorism issue, it is watching the situation critically.

‘‘We would like to see more effort to get the international community to understand the problems we are facing. Much more needs to be done on the diplomatic front,’’ she stressed.

However, she refused to spell out what specific steps her party wanted taken, saying that the Opposition does not have enough details. ‘‘Only the Government has them so it is for them to decide,’’ she said. But she emphasised that ‘‘the diplomatic option must never be given up’’. Describing the situation along the Indo-Pak border as ‘‘very fragile’’, she expressed concern over the statements coming from government leaders. ‘‘There are all kinds of signals,’’ she said.

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Her comments were an indication of the dilemma the Congress faces as it tries to strike a delicate balance between criticism and support. The party clearly is wary of taking an openly critical line on the manner in which the Government is handling the situation. At the same time, it is hesitant to fully endorse the war cries that are being sounded.

The J-K situation and the developments on the Indo-Pak front form part of both the political and foreign affairs resolutions which will be adopted by the AICC on Saturday. They were finalised by the CWC today after some fine-tuning.

The CWC also finalised the economic resolution for the AICC session. Sources said the political resolution will contain a harsh indictiment of the Sangh Parivar for the communal violence that has ravaged Gujarat. On this, there is no compromise, the sources said.

Sonia described Lone’s assassination as ‘‘a setback to the peace process as well as the elections’’. She said: ‘‘It’s obvious that certain forces don’t want peace to return to Kashmir.’’

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At the same time, she felt that the Government was not doing enough to restore normalcy in the state. ‘‘It must take the various groups into confidence. It must show it is serious about bringing peace to Kashmir,’’ she said. The CWC spent a considerable amount of time on the ticklish question of coalitions. Some members felt the party must stick to the Pachmarhi line of no coalitions unless necessary. However, the pragmatists, led by Arjun Singh, won the day and the political resolution is expected to veer towards the flexible Bangalore line on joining a coalition government.

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