Mani Shankar Aiyar Does It Again, Questions India's Surgical Strikes From Pakistan Soil

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar who has often been in the news for making bizarre and controversial statements, has once again stirred up a controversy with his vile remarks suggesting that the biggest mistake that the PM Modi-led government at the Centre made during the last decade of its tenure “was refusing [to hold a] dialogue [with Pakistan]".

Asserting that there were five Indian high commissioners in Islamabad who served during the rule of both the parties – the BJP and the Congress –  Aiyar made a wild claim, saying, “All five of them unanimously agreed that whatever our differences, we must engage with Pakistan", while also adding, “The biggest mistake we made in the last 10 years was the refusal of dialogue [with Pakistan]”. ”We have the courage to conduct surgical strikes against you [Pakistan], but we do not have the courage to sit across the table and talk,” Pakistani news outlet Dawn quoted the Congress leader as saying.

Speaking during a session on the second day of the Faiz Festival at Alhamra, Aiyar further suggested the people of Pakistan as “the single-biggest Indian asset”. 

"The Pakistanis have been the people who overreact to the other side. If we are friendly [with them], [then] they will be overfriendly, and if we are hostile [towards them], [then] they will get over hostile,” Aiyar reportedly said.

Stressing that he had never been to any country where he had been welcomed with “such open arms” as he was in Pakistan, Aiyar recalled the time when he was posted in Karachi as consul general. Citing excerpts from his book – Memoirs of a Maverick –  Aiyar reportedly said, “All that I ask of the people (Pakistanis) is to remember that [PM] Modi has never received more than one-third of the votes".

In continuance of his condescension, Aiyar further stated, "…But our system is such that if has one-third of the votes, he has two-thirds in the seats. So two-thirds of the Indians are ready to come towards you (Pakistanis).”