US invite to Pak Army chief Asim Munir a ‘diplomatic setback’ for India: Congress, seeks special Parliament Session

The Congress said on 12 June that the United States is constantly making statements that can only be interpreted as hyphenating India and Pakistan.

The opposition party stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should leave aside his ‘stubbornness’ and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament to discuss India-Pakistan matters, especially after Operation Sindoor.

Congress general secretary and in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, asserted in a post on X that decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily.

“It is reported that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir has been invited to the event organised in Washington DC on the occasion of US Army Day (14 June). This news is a big setback for India from a diplomatic and strategic point of view,” Ramesh said in the post in Hindi.

“This is the same person who used provocative and inciting language just before the Pahalgam terror attack - the question arises what is America's intention?” the Congress general secretary asked.

‘A matter of serious concern’

Recently, the head of the US Central Command also stated that Pakistan is a ‘great partner’ of America in the fight against terrorism, Ramesh said.

“The Modi government is saying that Operation Sindoor is still going on. In such a situation, the Pakistani army chief's participation as a guest in the US Army Day is definitely a matter of serious concern,” he said.

Ramesh said the Trump administration is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is “hyphenating” India and Pakistan.

“The prime minister should now leave aside his stubbornness and concern for prestige and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, so that the nation can clearly express its collective will and a concrete roadmap can be presented to the country,” he said.

Decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily, he added.

‘Diplomatic Setback’

With US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), calling Pakistan a ‘phenomenal partner’ in the counterterrorism world, the Congress on Wednesday asked what PM Modi had to say about this and whether it was not a ‘diplomatic setback’.

The opposition party also referred to remarks by a Trump administration spokesperson highlighting President Donald Trump's diplomatic and negotiating skills as having the power to end “generational differences”, wondering whether something is cooking in Washington DC. It asked Prime Minister Modi to issue a clarification on it.

Ramesh also cited a media report claiming that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir is scheduled to visit Washington, DC, for the US Army Day celebrations and said this is “another huge diplomatic setback for India”.

US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has said the United States has to have relationships with Pakistan and India and noted that it cannot be a “binary switch” where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi.

Kurilla made the comments during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Pakistan is “in an active counterterrorism fight right now, and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world”, the general said.

Kurilla's comments came days after an all-party Indian parliamentary delegation visited the US to convey India's strong resolve to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the wake of the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack.

As many as 26 people were killed and several others injured in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on 22 April. Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor on 7 May, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

(With PTI inputs)