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SHRI PURNO A. SANGMA (TURA): Madam Chairperson, I am not going to repeat all the points that had already been made very eloquently by the previous speakers, particularly, Shri Madhavrao Scindia. I will try to deal the topic from a different perspective.
After the Summit when Gen. Musharraf arrived at Islamabad, he declared and I quote: "I have returned empty handed". I want to put a question whether it is a true statement. Did Gen. Musharraf return to Pakistan empty handed? If he is talking about himself, if he is talking about his personal interest or personal gain, I think he is making a wrong statement. If he is talking in terms of the welfare of the people of Pakistan, I think, he is right. He has returned to Pakistan empty handed for the people of Pakistan.

Is it a Machiavellian technique, calling the President of Pakistan in order to send him back empty-handed? If so, I think, this House is entitled to know, in all honesty, that the Prime Minister’s strategy was to engineer a failure of the Summit. We cannot have it both ways. We cannot have the failure of a Summit projected as the success of the Prime Minister. Madam, as a citizen of this great country, I feel utterly humiliated at what we have had to endure. If the Government feels proud about its performance, then, I am afraid, further diplomatic disasters are in store for us.Madam, I wish to turn to another problem. Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra speaking as the first spokesman of the BJP in this debate quoted a statement made by Shri Pranab Mukherjee on the 23rd of November, 2000 in the other House. Although, Madam, according to your own Rules and Kaul and Shakdar it is only policy statements made by Ministers in the other House that could be quoted in this House, yet the Chair indulged Shri V.K.Malhotra and allowed him to quote what he wished from Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s statement. I do not wish to deny a single word of what was quoted and I do not wish to say that it was quoted out of context. I accept that every word quoted was quoted correctly. I have that entire statement before me. There is no need for me to repeat the quotations by Shri V.K.Malhotra. It is quite clear that Shri V.K.Malhotra quoted with apparent pride that he had succeeded in nobbling the Congress, by saying what Shri Pranab Mukherjee said there. In my draft I had written Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra, but now it seems that I have to change it to saying the Government of India that they cannot distinguish between pre-conditions for a dialogue and conditions for a conclusion.

Now, if the Defence Minister of India, of the Prime Minister’s Government believes that in December, 1998, that there was no threat from Paskistan, then how can the Indian military forces be ready to face that threat? It is blindness of this kind -- this deliberate blindness, this refusal to open the eyes, the sin of Dhritrashtra which was not that he was born blind but he could not distinguish between the Pandavasand the Kaurvas -- it is that kind of blindness which, I find, dealt with in detail in the Kargil Review Report, from Chapter III of , which our friend, Shri P.A. Sangma quoted. I also wish to quote from that, but not continuously.

The very same military ruler had to come over here. It was a great sight when he showered rose petals at Rajghat, on the Samadhiof the Father of the Nation. The vociferous warmonger writes in the visitors’ book at Rajghat – "Never has a requirement of his ideals been so severely questioned as today, specially in the context of India-Pakistan relations. May his soul rest in peace".

Another important question raised particularly by hon. Members Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shri Madhavrao Scindia was : Did our Prime Minister take up the issue of securing the release of 54 Prisoners of War languishing in Pakistani jails. That was their question. Our Prime Minister did take up the issue. This is the opening statement of our Prime Minister at the delegation level talks on 15th July. I quote : "We have consistently, for over two decades, urged Pakistan to release the 54 Indian Prisoners of War who, we strongly believe, remain in your custody, which is a human problem. I would urge the Pakistan State to take urgent and purposeful action to end the agony of the families of those soldiers". What more do you want? He took up the issue with the President of Pakistan.