Government faces tough questions on India-Pakistan ties from Parliamentary panel

NEW DELHI: Government today faced some tough questions on Indo-Pak relations from some members of a parliamentary committee in the backdrop of the Pathankot terror attack during a briefing by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today.

"There were frank questions and frank answers. It was a good meeting," said a member, who attended the meeting but declined to divulge the details.

The Foreign Secretary briefed the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament on External Affairs on Indo-Pakistan relations under the current political situation in Pakistan.

At an earlier meeting of the panel on December 29, the Foreign Secretary was grilled by committee members, who wanted to know why India failed to anticipate the crisis in Nepal which has taken a heavy toll on ties.

There was a view in the committee that the details of such meetings on such sensitive issues should not go outside the panel as they impact long-term strategies, a member said on the condition of anonymity.

The panel's meeting on the status of Indo-Pak relations today came in the backdrop of India and Pakistan deferring their foreign secretary-level talks to "very near future" after the Pathankot attack.

Sources said that members asked a number of questions to the foreign secretary on the impact of Pathankot terror attack on Indo-Pak relations and about the response of Pakistan on it.

Opposition members asked a number of tough questions regarding the government's handling of relations with Pakistan, the sources said.

In view of the sensitivity of the issue, the members were asked to maintain confidentiality of the discussion, they said.

After the hour-long meeting was over, the panel headed by Congress member Shashi Tharoor held an interaction meeting with a visiting Congressional Delegation from the USA.

The committee currently has 29-members - 21 from Lok Sabha and 8 from Rajya Sabha after two vacancies one from each House.