New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) The Congress on Wednesday accused Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of giving a “shameful clean chit” to Pakistan during his remarks at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Bishkek, calling his statements “anti-national.”

This comes after ‘RMO India’ took to social media ‘X’ and said, “It was a testimony to our zero-tolerance outlook towards terrorism and its perpetrators, which was endorsed by this esteemed Forum. But the real test of our collective credibility remains in consistency. We must not forget that terrorism has no nationality and no theology. No grievance, real or supposed, can become an excuse for terrorism and humanitarian loss: Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh.”

Congress General Secretary Incharge Communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared a video clip of Rajnath Singh’s address on ‘X’ and said, “Yesterday, the Defence Minister, obviously with the approval of and at the instance of the Prime Minister, gave a shameful clean chit to Pakistan while speaking in Bishkek.”

“Is Pakistan not the epicentre of terrorism? Are there no terrorist camps in Pakistan with India as their target?,” he questioned.

He further said that this new stance in relation to Pakistan is all part of the PM’s policy of appeasement of the US and calibrated capitulation to China.

“Is there no ideological anti-India indoctrination in Pakistan? Were not the Mumbai and Pahalgam terror attacks masterminded and executed by terrorists from Pakistan? Clearly this new stance in relation to Pakistan is all part of the PM’s policy of appeasement of the US and calibrated capitulation to China,” he said.

“The Defence Minister’s shocking statements are as anti-national as the PM’s bizarre clean chit to China on June 19, 2020,” he said.

Rajnath Singh had on Tuesday reiterated that India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack last year, demonstrated the nation’s firm resolve that ‘terror epicentres’ are no longer immune to ‘justifiable punishment’.

Singh was addressing a conclave of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Bishkek and called upon the SCO to not lose sight of ‘state-sponsored’ cross-border terrorism and also argued that there should not be any place for any ‘double standards’ in combating the menace, a reference widely seen as a warning to Pakistan.

“Operation Sindoor is proof of our zero tolerance approach towards terrorism and its supporters,” Singh said.

–IANS

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