New Delhi: With India and Pakistan agreeing to halt military actions, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday demanded that an-all party meeting be called while urging political parties not to attend it until the government assures that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present there.
Sibal also demanded a special session of Parliament and asserted that he was confident that if Manmohan Singh had been the prime minister today, he would be present in the all-party meeting, and a special session would have been called too.
Addressing a press conference here, Sibal referred to US President Donald Trump’s latest social media post on stoppage of military hostilities in which the American president said that he is proud that the US was able to help arrive at this “historic and heroic decision”.
“Many questions will be raised on this tweet as well. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that for the last 48 hours talks went on. So what happened, how and why, no information has been given to us regarding this.They also stated that there will be a meeting at a neutral site. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also spoke with NSA Ajit Dowal,” Sibal said.
“We will not issue any criticism today because this is not the time for criticism. We only want a special Parliament session and an all-party meeting to be called. I want to appeal to all political parties not to attend the meeting until the government assures them that the prime minister will be present at the meeting as well,” Sibal said.
“I am confident that if Dr Manmohan Singh had been the prime minister today, he would be present in the all-party meeting, and a special session would have been called too,” the Independent Rajya Sabha MP said.
He said MPs can’t wait till the Monsoon session for getting details on what has transpired in the last few days.
Sibal said he did not like it when Prime Minister Modi did not participate in the all-party meeting that was held after the Pahalgam terror attack.
“Maybe he (Modi) thought Bihar elections were more important. He also went to Bollywood, Kerala, he thinks that whenever such an incident takes place, no matter what happens in Manipur, it is not necessary to go there,” Sibal said.
The former Congress leader hailed the armed forces for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.
The country in one voice asserted that enough is enough and a reply should be given to Pakistan, he said.
His remarks came after India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
