VK Singh looks on as Pakistani Envoy Abdul Basit speaks during a reception on Pakistan National Day at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)
General VK Singh has not offered to resign as union minister after a series of tweets in which he appeared to express great disdain for being asked to attend a reception last night hosted by Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit. Kashmiri separatist leaders were present at the event.
Though photographs showed him smiling and talking with the envoy, Mr Singh tweeted last night of "disgust" and "duty" in series of posts that are seen as an embarrassment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government's attempts to restart the dialogue with Pakistan. The Foreign Secretaries of both countries met just weeks ago.
Sources close to the retired general who was chief of the army say he has not offered to quit as Minister of State for External Affairs, despite considerable criticism from the opposition, whose representatives said he need not have gone to the reception if he had such strong objections but should not have undermined the gesture of his being deputed to the event by publicly deriding it.
His attendance at last night's dinner for Pakistan's Republic Day was cleared by the government after Mr Basit created a somewhat awkward situation by telling reporters that the Indian government "did not seem to have any objections" to his invite to Kashmiri separatist leaders.
A sharply-worded statement from the Foreign Ministry asked him not to make assumptions. "There should be no scope for misunderstanding or misrepresenting India's position on the role of the so- called Hurriyat. Let me reiterate there are only two parties and there is no place for a third party in resolution of India-Pakistan issues," said ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.