Chandigarh, July 4 (IANS) Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday questioned the purpose of resuming dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that any engagement would be meaningless unless Islamabad first stops sponsoring terrorism against India.

His remarks came after Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that no one should object to India-Pakistan dialogue if the objective is to improve relations between the two neighbouring countries.

The Chief Minister noted that the conflict between India and Pakistan was not new and had continued for the past three to four decades.

“This conflict is 30 to 40 years old, and last year it intensified after the Pahalgam attack. Now, through a letter, the Prime Minister has been requested to improve relations between the two countries. No one should have any objection to that,” he said.

Speaking to IANS, Manish Tewari said, “Since 1971, when India helped create Bangladesh, Pakistan has been carrying a sense of revenge. At that time, the atrocities committed by the West Pakistani forces on the people of East Pakistan led to their surrender, and nearly 91,000 Pakistani soldiers were taken as prisoners of war by India. Since then, they have been trying to take revenge. Their strategy has been to ‘bleed India with a thousand cuts’, and they have been promoting terrorism time and again.”

Referring to the terror attack in Baisaran, Pahalgam, he said, “In the Baisaran attack, 26 people were killed after being asked about their religion. India should not forget this so soon. What exactly do you want to talk about with Pakistan? India wants only one thing from Pakistan — that it should stop promoting terrorism.”

He further asked, “Has anyone in Pakistan guaranteed that its territory will not be used for terrorism against India? General Musharraf had given assurances to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and later made similar commitments to Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those assurances were never honoured.”

Meanwhile, Sanjay Saraogi, the Bihar BJP chief, criticised those advocating engagement with Pakistan, saying, “These are people who support Pakistan and back terrorists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister have already said that Operation Sindoor has not ended; it has only been suspended. Therefore, those who support Pakistan and terrorists will continue to make such statements.”

–IANS

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