Opposition Leaders Take a Dig at Modi Gov’t for Opening Dialogue With Taliban

On Tuesday, the Indian Foreign Ministry announced the beginning of a formal dialogue with the Taliban as its ambassador to Doha met the head of the movement's political office.

In the wake of New Delhi starting official talks with the Taliban, India’s opposition leaders have demanded that the government offer clarity on the policy towards the terror organisation.

Omar Abdullah, former state chief of Jammu and Kashmir, said that the government should make it clear to the nation whether the Taliban is viewed as terrorist or not.

"Either [the] Taliban is a terror organisation or not. Please clarify to us how you see them", Abdullah said after chairing a meeting of party leaders in Srinagar. "If they're a terror group, why are you talking to them? If not then will you move to the United Nations and have them delisted as a terror organisation? Make up your mind," he added.

Taliban walk in front of a military airplane a day after the U.S. troops withdrawal from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 31, 2021.

© REUTERS / STRINGER

Asaduddin Owaisi, senior parliamentarian and chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), also asked the government whether India's formal talks with the Taliban would lead to recognition of the terrorist group.

The Taliban is still considered a terror organisation as per UNSC Resolution 1267 for providing shelter to Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

“BJP spokespersons are baying for Talib blood, using ‘Taliban’ as an abuse against critics. Our media is crying for Afghan women. And you’re holding cordial talks with them?! India chairs the UN Sanctions Committee, will Taliban/Haqqanis be delisted? Or will you do it only after the Uttar Pradesh election?” Owaisi said.

The opposition leaders’ have started taking a dig at the government after India opened formal diplomatic talks with the Taliban on Tuesday. India's envoy to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met key Taliban diplomat Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai at the Indian Embassy in Doha on the day the US completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan.

On 20 August, in a veiled attack on the Taliban, Narendra Modi said that the ideology of creating empires through terror can not last for long.