Congress asks Modi to make letter to Imran public
New Delhi, Aug 21 : Terming Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's visit to Pakistan a non-issue since he went there in his personal capacity, the party on Tuesday turned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him as to what happened to the red lines of 'no-talks' till terror from Pakistan stops.
It said the PM's letter to his newly elected counterpart Imran Khan was to "obfuscate this government's lack of policy."
Modi has written to Khan saying India desires "constructive engagement" with Islamabad. The Congress has demanded that the Prime Minister should make the letter public to clear the air about multiple narratives about 'resumtion of dialogue' with Pakistan.
The party said India and Pakistan relations are extremely complicated. "Navjot Singh Sidhu is not the issue," it emphasized.
"The real issue is the relationship between India and Pakistan, the impact of the India-Pakistan stand-off on South Asia and the complete absence of the NDA-BJP government's policy towards Pakistan," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.
"There seems to be a suggestion of resumption of a dialogue despite all the red lines," he said. "These lines mean that there will be no talks till terror from Pakistan stops, till the trial of the 26/11 perpetrators is not resumed, till Lakhvi is not put back in the prison, till Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Jamat-ud-Dawa, is not incarcerated," he said.
"So there has been a concerted attempt by the government to try and obfuscate this. That is the real issue," he added.
On government contradicting Pakistan's foreign minister's claim on PM's offer on India's overtures for talks with Pakistan, Tewari said: "The difficulty with this government is, it only speaks through sources on uncomfortable questions."
"You have a second narrative on ‘sources in India' which says that no such offer has been made. So why does not the Prime minister make the letter public, which he has written to Prime Minister Imran Khan?" he asked.
"I think, it would be appropriate that the letter be put it in the public space so that the whole thing can be clarified. And may I also add, I don't see the government doing so," he added.
Tewai said it was not the responsibility of the Congress to suggest a policy. "We conceptualized policy and implemented it for 10 years while we were in government," he said.
"The NDA-BJP government has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous on their Pakistan policy," he said.
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Trump launches new effort to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): US forces on Monday launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began.
Two American-flagged merchant ships have “successfully transited” through the critical waterway, the US military said. Separately, the US military denied Iran's claims that it struck an American Navy vessel southeast of the strait.
Iran handed over its latest proposal for negotiations with the US to mediators in Pakistan, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Friday. Trump subsequently said he's “not satisfied” with it, but did not elaborate on the proposal's apparent shortcomings. The shaky ceasefire between the US and Iran has lasted for three weeks.
Here's the latest:
European leaders see Trump's troop drawdown from Germany as new proof they must go it alone
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European leaders on Monday said President Trump's snap decision to pull thousands of US troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters Saturday that “we're going to cut way down. And we're cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump's anger over European allies' reluctance to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.
Wall Street hesitates and oil prices climb with uncertainty about the Strait of Hormuz
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The US stock market is holding tentatively near its record heights Monday, while oil prices climb with uncertainty about when oil tankers can resume crossing the Strait of Hormuz and restore the world's flow of crude. Dueling claims about a possible Iranian strike on a U.S. Navy vessel in the strait heightened the tensions.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 216 points, or 0.4 per cent, as of 9:35 am Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1 per cent.
The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2 per cent to USD 110.37 and briefly topped USD 114 during the morning. Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to its war with the United States has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide. That in turn has sent the price of Brent soaring from roughly USD 70 per barrel before the war.
Iran stands firm on its grip of the strait
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The disruption of the waterway has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf oil and gas, raising prices far beyond the region.
Trump has promised to bring down gas prices as he faces midterm elections this year.
The US has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran for transit of the strait. It has enacted a naval blockade on Iranian ports since April 13, telling 49 commercial ships to turn back, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. The blockade has deprived Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
US officials have expressed hope the blockade forces Iran back to the negotiation table.
US claims progress in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying two merchant ships have transited
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The US military said Monday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and Navy guided-missile destroyers in the Persian Gulf were helping to restore shipping traffic. It separately denied Iran's claims to have struck an American Navy vessel.
The announcement came a day after US President Donald Trump announced a new initiative to help guide ships through the critical waterway for global energy. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the US and Israel started the war Feb 28, rattling the global economy.
The US-led Joint Maritime Information Center has advised ships to cross the strait in Oman's waters, saying it set up an “enhanced security area.” U.S. Central Command didn't say when the Navy ships arrived or when the merchant vessels departed.
It was unclear whether shipping companies, and their insurers, will feel comfortable taking the risk given that Iran has fired on ships in the waterway and vowed to keep doing so.
