Dec 14 , 2015
News
Sushma briefs Indian lawmakers on her last week visit to Islamabad
India’s minister says Pakistan, India to engage in a comprehensive dialogue on peace, security, Jammu Kashmir, all other issues
NEW DELHI – India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke through continuous protests by opposition parties on Monday morning, barely heard above the ruckus as she made a statement in the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian parliament, on her visit last week to Pakistan.Sushma informed the lawmakers that Pakistan and India would engage in a comprehensive dialogue on all issues including peace, security and Jammu Kashmir. She said that continued estrangement of Pakistan and India was a hurdle to realisation of peace and prosperity in the region. “We raised the issue of 26/11 attacks probe and asked Pakistan to expedite the trial process,” she said.
The minister is also expected to make a statement in the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Indian parliament. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for a while amid the noisy slogan shouting by the opposition soon after Sushma finished her statement. The opposition was protesting against an incident in Punjab's Fazilka district where limbs of two men were chopped off at a farmhouse allegedly owned by a leader of the ruling Akali Dal.
During the last few days, the Rajya Sabha has barely functioned with the Congress party protesting and forcing multiple adjournments alleging political vendetta after its two top leaders, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were summoned by court in the National Herald case. They have also disrupted the Lok Sabha as well.
The Indian media reported that a section of the Congress leaders were reportedly not in favour of continuously disrupting legislative work and there has been some talk of the opposition party scaling down its protests. Sources said the party is still divided over allowing work in the parliament, which has eight days of the winter session left, with many bills.
Outside the parliament, Rahul Gandhi led a protest against what it calls poor treatment by the centre of its chief ministers after Kerala's Oommen Chandy complained that he has been kept away from a function in his state where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit. Gandhi accused the prime minister of insulting the people of the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also protested in the parliament against the demolition of homes in a Delhi slum cluster by the railway police in an anti-encroachment drive that allegedly left a six-month-old girl dead and hundreds homeless. Other opposition parties like the Janata Dal and the Trinamool Congress joined AAP in protests outside the parliament.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk