Modi’s foreign policy is knee jerk diplomacy: Yechury

Kolkata, Aug 18 (PTI) Branding the foreign policy of theNarendra Modi government as "knee jerk diplomacy", CPI-Mgeneral secretary Sitaram Yechury today said the Centre shouldimmediately send an all-party delegation to Kashmir and starttalks with Pakistan to address the issue of terrorism. "The Indian government is pursuing a policy on Kashmirwhich will have further ramifications. We must address theissues within Kashmir. A delegation of Indian Parliamentshould be sent to Kashmir led by the government to look intothe ground level situation," he told reporters here. "They are saying that the last time an all-partydelegation went, nothing fruitful came up. We are saying thatnow you have reports of all the working groups, including thatof the interlocutors who were appointed last time. On thatbasis, the government should prepare certain proposals. And wehave been saying to stop the use of the inhuman pellet guns,"he said. Yechury said the government was not undertaking thecourse which could solve the unrest in Kashmir. He criticised the recent statement of Foreign SecretaryS Jaishankar who had said terrorism was "central" to itsrelation with Islamabad, whose different views and attitudehave made it difficult for bilateral ties to grow. The CPI(M) leader said the Foreign Secretary statednothing new. "This Modi government announced a package of Indo-Pakdialogue, but later on they withdrew the talks. Then all of asudden Prime minster Modi dropped in to Pakistan to have lunchand said talk would again resume. Now they are saying therewill be no talks," Yechury said. (MORE) PTI PNT MDSRY