Opposition leaders raised queries about the internal security concerns for India, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) during the briefing on Thursday by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on the developments in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
According to the MPs present at the meeting, which lasted for more than three hours, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised concerns over the fallout of the Taliban takeover on the security situation in India, especially the likelihood of rising terror attacks.
He stressed that the political process with regard to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir should be restarted by restoring its statehood. Congress leader Anand Sharma said the Government of India had been marginalised over the events in Afghanistan. Several MPs used the phrase “grand isolation” to describe India’s situation among stakeholders in that country.
Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda also raised issues related to internal security and recalled the situation in Afghanistan during his term in office (1996-1997) when the Mujahideen government and the Taliban were engaged in a civil war in Afghanistan.
Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy questioned the recent statements by Ministers on the CAA in the context of Afghanistan.
He said that while the government was undertaking the exercise of an all-party meeting on Afghanistan to put up a united front by India on foreign policy issues, some Ministers were using “divisive language” by constantly pushing the case for CAA.
Security agencies in India have been warning of increasing terror activities by Pakistan-sponsored outfits the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Taiba emboldened by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
