New Delhi, July 2
In a significant statement, senior Congress leader and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari regarding the prominent citizens from India and Pakistan appealing PMs of both countries for ‘restoring peace, normalcy, dialogue’, has said, “Well, that’s not an appeal for a dialogue. It is an instrument of an unconditional surrender. We want peace with Pakistan, but it has to be peace without terror. It has to be peace with honour. Has Pakistan given any commitment that it will dismantle the entire military jihadi complex. That they have very assiduously nurtured since the late 1970s. Has Pakistan said that they would ensure that the soil of their country is not used for perpetrating terror against India.”
Tewari, further said, “The commitment was given by Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf in 2002 in a televised address to the people of Pakistan, as well as reiterated when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Islamabad in December 2004 for the SAARC Summit. And then repeated ad nauseam in the conversations that took place with between Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani interlocutors or even Prime Minister Modi later with his Pakistani interlocutors. So, therefore, the question is not peace. The question is, peace at what cost? Peace cannot come with a gun to your head, you know, with somebody holding the gun of terror to your head.”
Tewai added that all these people who’ve written this letter are very eminent people in their professional and private capacities, while adding, “They have dealt with the Pakistanis over the entire span of their professional careers. They exactly know as to how perfidious these people are as to how they say one thing and mean the other thing altogether. And therefore, if there has to be peace or if there has to be a dialogue, terror and talks cannot go hand in hand. You need to ensure that Pakistan dismantles the entire infrastructure of terror that Pakistan have created. Who does not want peace? Everybody wants peace, but it has to be peace without terror and peace with honor.”