Press Briefing Monday, 2nd May 2011

Shri Manish Tewari addressed the media today.

Shri Manish Tewari said the neutralization of Osama Bin Laden underscores the point which India has been belaboring for over three decades now that Pakistan has become a sanctuary for terrorist elements of various shades and hues - the elements within Pakistan who have been using terror as an instrument for the state policy. Since it is an evolving situation, I would refrain from making a very detailed comment – suffice to say that the world needs to understand that the infrastructure of terror is seamless and the same standards of prevention which are deployed towards the Western borders of Pakistan also need to be deployed towards the Eastern borders.

I spoke to Shri Mukul Wasnik earlier in the afternoon today, who, as you know, is in Arunachal Pradesh. All efforts are under way to try and locate the helicopter which is carrying the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and certain other people. In this hour of trial and tribulation, our thought and prayers are with them and their families.

To a question as referred to in the suo-moto with regard to standards of prevention deployed towards the Eastern borders along the Line of control, Shri Tewari said it is important to understand the substance and the context in which the statement has been made. We have been repeatedly emphasizing that a distinction cannot be made between one kind of terror and another. Distinctions cannot be made between one set of terrorist organizations and another. So therefore, the fight to bring terrorist to justice has to be holistic. It has to be globally coordinated and all resources need to be directed to see that those who have been indulging or perpetrating these acts, is brought to justice. I think the context of the 26/11 accused has already been underscored by the Home Ministry in a statement.

In view of the neutralization of Osama Bin Laden, on a question whether India should take a hard stance against Pakistan, Shri Tewari said I am not going to go down that route because that is really a question which is in the domain of the government. All I would like to reiterate once again is that we had been repeatedly and continuously belaboring this point to all our international interlocutors that there is a need to recognize that the infrastructure of terror is seamless and it perhaps is not an appropriate exercise to make a distinction between one and another kind of terrorism.

On the question of location of the helicopter and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Shri Tewari said as I understand that whatever needs to be done is already being done. The entire spectrum of resources of the government of India has been deployed to their fullest measure to try and locate the helicopter and its passengers. What I just have been told is that the weather has been inclement and notwithstanding that aerial surveillance as well as ground personnel are trying to do their best.

On the question of the reaction of the Congress party on the reappointment of Shri Murli Manohar Joshi as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Shri Tewari said I do not think it is appropriate for us to be commenting on a decision which the Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha has taken. However, in the context of some of the comments which were made by the Spokesperson of the BJP yesterday, I would only like to say thjat the BJP has a very bizarre sense of democracy. That sense of democracy is either ‘My way’ or it is the ‘High way’. You have a situation where a draft report which was surreptitiously bounced on the PAC members, has been decisively rejected. The BJP continues to still ‘tom-tom’ that report. It raises a very fundamental question. Does the BJP believe in the parliamentary system as it stands constituted because if you do, then you must understand that if a report has been decisively rejected and repudiated by the majority of the members, that should be the last that one hears of it.

On another question on the biased probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation as has been raised by Shri Murli Manohar Joshi also, Shri Tewari said as far as Shri Joshi is concerned and if he has raised this question in his draft report, that report has been decisively been rejected which has consequently lost its existence and keeping this in view, it does not seem to be appropriate to comment on any question on this issue.

On the reaction of the Congress party over celebrations in Gujarat on the neutralization of Osama Bin Laden, Shri Tewari said I really do not know as to what is the occasion which would have prompted celebrations. I really would have to check back on that but one thing is definitely for sure that we certainly, under no circumstances, do share the Gujarat Chief Minister’s idea of India.

Shri Tewari further said there are two different conflicting visions of the idea of India we represent and there cannot be, under any circumstances, any meeting of view least of all the meeting of minds. Insofar as to why there were celebrations, you will have to allow me to check from our Gujarat leaders and then get back to you.



(Tom Vadakkan)
Secretary, AICC