India’s ‘no’ to talks with Pakistan is self-defeatist: CPI-M

New Delhi: The Modi government’s refusal to have talks with Pakistan betrays its “contradictory and self-defeating stand” vis-a-vis Islamabad and is dictated “by its communal agenda within the country”, the CPI-M has said. “What is required is resumption of the comprehensive dialogue while maintaining a firm stance on tackling terrorism,” said an editorial in the CPI-M journal “People’s Democracy”. “With its blinkered approach to relations with Pakistan which are dictated by its communal agenda within the country, the Modi government is constricting its scope for strategic autonomy,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist said. “Whether it is Afghanistan or South Asia regional cooperation, India cannot play a positive role given its confrontationist stance towards Pakistan. “Such a position does not only affect our external policy but also will have harmful repercussions internally - the worsening situation in Kashmir and the revival of extremism in Punjab are the two obvious pointers,” the editorial said. The CPI-M hailed the decision to open a corridor from India to the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan as “one of the rare instances when the governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to cooperate after a long period of stalemate and tensions”. (IANS)

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