External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was absent during the high-level meeting held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence at Race Course Road in New Delhi to discuss India’s reaction to the terrorist attack on the Indian Army in Uri.
Her absence was reported by The Telegraph to be a sign that the answer to the attack claimed 18 lives will go beyond diplomacy.
While the government has decided to isolate Pakistan on the diplomatic front globally, the Indian Army has decided to retaliate at the time and place of their choice. Amid these, Swaraj has not made any comment on the incident.
While Swaraj was seen at her South Block office in Delhi, other key union ministers – Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar – were present at the meeting.
A source in the foreign ministry, reports The Telegraph, has claimed that National security Advisor Ajit Doval will be at the helm of the “command chain dealing with Kashmir and the western border”.
For the matters within the borders of Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be responsible, according to the source. Singh held a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday.
The source has also claimed that Manohar Parrikar will be responsible for executing the decision made by Prime Minster.
However, there was no mention of what Swaraj’s role would be in the retaliation to Uri attack, believed to have been carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a terror outfit based in Pakistan.
(Source: The Telegraph)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)