Congress condemns Chinese envoy's pitch for India-China-Pakistan trilateral meet
New Delhi, June 18: The Congress "strongly condemned" Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui's pitch on Monday for an India-China-Pakistan trilateral meeting under the SCO framework, and called on the government to do the same.
The party also said that all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan will have to be resolved bilaterally in terms of the spirit of the Shimla agreement.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said: "We strongly condemn the statement of the Chinese ambassador. We expect the government of India to strongly condemn this unwarranted suggestion which has been made by the Chinese Ambassador.
"It seems that the Chinese ambassador is not cognizant about the India-Pakistan paradigm. We have maintained and continue to maitain that whatever issues or whatever outstanding issues there are with Pakistan have to be resolved in a bilateral format."
"There is absolutely no place for any third party intervention in so far as India and Pakistan and its outstanding disputes are concerned.
"This has been the consistent position of governments across different administrations from 1972 onwards when the Shimla agreement was signed.
"There is absolutely no scope of any third party intervention and we stand by the spirit of the Shimla agreement as well as the resolution passed by the Indian Parliament in 1994 and 2013 respectively," he added.
On the Chinese Ambassador saying bilateral ties between India and China can't take the strain of another Doklam episode, Tewari said: "Doklam did not happen in Pakistani territory. The stand-off happened in Bhutanese territory. How is the statement even relevant to what transpired in Doklam."
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RCB beat MI by 18 runs after batters fire
Mumbai (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as the defending champions beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Salt (78 off 36 balls) and Kohli (50 off 38 balls) stitched together a 120-run stand for the opening wicket before Patidar scored a rapid 53 off just 20 balls as RCB posted 240 for 4.
In response, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 222 for 5, with RCB spinner Suyash Sharma (2/47) putting the skids on the home side with a double strike in the eighth over, from which they could not recover.
Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls.
While opener Rohit Sharma appeared to be struggling with a hamstring issue and had to retire hurt on 19, his partner Ryan Rickelton made 37, while Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Hardik Pandya (40) were the other contributors for MI.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 35 not out).
Mumbai Indians: 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Ryan Rickelton 37, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2/47).
