Global outreach against Pakistan a right step by govt, says Congress' Amar Singh

Amar Singh, the two-term Congress Lok Sabha member from Punjab, who is part of the Indian delegation to the United Kingdom and other European countries, has welcomed the Centre initiating a global outreach against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and pointed out that similar bipartisan initiatives had been carried out by the previous Congress governments headed by Manmohan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao when Indian faced Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks.

Incidentally, Singh's name, like that of his party colleagues in the delegations such as Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari, didn't figure in the 'alternative list' of Congress leaders' names that leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had sent to the government only to see the Centre retaining its original list of MPs representing the main Opposition in the delegations.

"I feel the government has done the right thing by deciding to send Indian delegations for a global outreach against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the wake of the Pahalgam incident and its aftermath. Similar bipartisan initiatives had been undertaken by former Congress governments as well - by Manmohan Singh government after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and during the PV Narasimha Rao government, the then Opposition leader AB Vajpayee famously led the Indian delegation to the United Nations to expose Pakistan's role in sponsoring terrorism," Singh told ET.


Singh, a former IAS officer who now represents Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha and belongs to the Dalit community, said he had spent a lot of his early years in the border districts of Punjab that were prone to cross-border terrorism.

"I have watched from close quarters, like most of my fellow Punjabis, the menace of terrorism and its dangerous consequences, including the killings of innocent people and the suffering and dislocation of many, many families. That may be one of the reasons for the government to choose me to be part of the delegation. We, the people of Punjab and J&K, have been the worst victims and sufferers of Pakistan's nefarious designs, its many ways of promoting terrorism through indoctrination, guns, bombs, drones and drugs," he said.

Singh, who is all set to attend the pre-travel briefing by MEA, said he is confident of contributing to the delegation's mission abroad.