Congress Seeks Answers on Ceasefire, US Role
The Opposition Congress is poised to intensify its stance on the ceasefire announcement made on Saturday. Sources within the party, as reported by The Indian Express, are likely to raise questions about the timeline and authenticity of the ceasefire, particularly regarding the involvement of the US.
A senior Congress leader in Delhi stated, "India has always maintained that third-party negotiations between India and Pakistan are not done. Then how did Donald Trump announce the ceasefire? We will be raising these questions in the coming days."
On Sunday, Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately, requesting a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and the ceasefire announcements "first announced by US President Donald Trump" and later by Indian and Pakistani governments.
The Congress, which initially supported the government’s actions against the terror attack and its handlers, now sees an opportunity to question the government on the "abrupt" ceasefire announcement and the extent of Washington’s intervention. They want to know if New Delhi received any "concrete assurances from Pakistan about dismantling the terror infrastructure" that led to the ceasefire.
Many Congress leaders pointed out that the US has made interventions in the past whenever tensions between India and Pakistan came to a flashpoint, but these efforts were never made public. In this sense, the ceasefire could have been better coordinated.
CWC member Sachin Pilot addressed a press conference, saying, "This was the first time that the announcement for the ceasefire was made by the US President on social media. And what he wrote on his social media is also worth paying attention to. The new step that we saw to internationalise the issue between India and Pakistan is very surprising."
Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh also raised questions, stating, "If diplomatic channels between India and Pakistan are being reopened, what commitments have we sought and got?"
Senior Congress leader and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, however, said that the circumstances of the 1971 war and the current situation are different. "The truth is that the circumstances of 1971 are not the circumstances of 2025. There are differences… This was not a war that we intend to continue. We just wanted to teach terrorists a lesson, and that lesson has been taught. I am sure the government will continue trying to identify and track the specific individuals who did the horrors of Pahalgam," he said.
With PTI inputs
