The Congress on Monday took a swipe at the Modi government over Pakistan's role in the US-Iran peace talks, saying Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir becoming a "huge favourite" of American President Donald Trump is a "monumental setback" for India which needs a complete overhaul of its diplomatic engagement strategy.
The opposition party claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "simply incapable" of the overhaul of India's diplomatic engagement strategy that is needed.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The 'dalal' country, as the erudite and always nattily dressed External Affairs Minister described it, is reportedly hosting the second round of US-Iran peace talks today."
After the completion of the first round of these talks on April 12th, Pakistan borrowed USD 6 billion from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to repay a USD 3.5 billion loan taken from the UAE and to retire a USD 1.43 billion tranche of Eurobonds, he pointed out.
Pakistan's economy is clearly in dire straits and it depends on largesse given to it by friendly countries, Ramesh said.
"But it is for now playing a pivotal diplomatic role after having given sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists, bombing drug rehabilitation centres in Afghanistan, and most recently orchestrating the Pahalgam terror attack a year ago," the Congress leader said.
It is abundantly clear that the substance and style of Prime Minister Modi's regional and global engagement and narrative management have failed to isolate Pakistan which has received a whole new branding -- different from what Dr. Manmohan Singh had been able to achieve after the terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, Ramesh said.
"That Field Marshal Asim Munir -- whose provocative and inflammatory remarks provided the oxygen for the Pahalgam terror attack -- has become such a huge favourite of President Trump is a particularly severe setback for India," the Congress leader said.
"That the Field Marshal and his colleagues seem to have succeeded in managing the Trump ecosystem of family and associates much better than India is obvious. It is a monumental setback for Mr. Modi's foreign policy," Ramesh said.
"India needs a complete overhaul of its diplomatic engagement strategy and tactics - which Mr. Modi is simply incapable of doing," he said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on April 11 said that he does not see India in competition with Pakistan regarding this issue and asserted that "who brings about the peace won't matter if peace comes".
Tharoor emphasised that if Pakistan emerges as a peacemaker in a specific context, it does not erase the evidence of its past misdeeds.
Tharoor also took a swipe at Pakistan over a social media post by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, where he appealed for a two-week extension to allow diplomacy in the West Asia conflict. Shortly after it was published, users circulated screenshots of the post's edit history showing it initially carrying the line: "Draft — Pakistan's PM Message on X."
Referring to the post that had gone viral, Tharoor said, "Do you know what kind of relationship Pakistan has with Washington?"
"There have been allegations that Washington wrote that tweet for the Pakistani prime minister. If you and I wrote something for the Indian prime minister, would we write 'draft for India's PM' above it?" Tharoor told reporters in Delhi.
The post by Sharif resembled one that US President Donald Trump had used hours earlier, he said. "Only Pakistan can play the kind of role it has played with Washington," Tharoor said.
The US and Iran held rare direct talks in Pakistan on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad aimed at ending their conflict, but the talks concluded without any agreement.
Trump has announced a fresh round of talks, raising hopes of extending a two-week ceasefire that expires by Wednesday.
Trump has announced that American negotiators will be in Islamabad on Monday for peace talks with Iran.
However, there was no confirmation from the Iranian side about Tehran's participation in the second round of talks.
