NEW DELHI: The government on Friday washed its hands of the decision to halt work on a road project along the Indo-China border in Ladakh.
Asked to reply on the status of road connecting Demchok, the last village near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the Tibetan border, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna absolved Centre having a role in either starting or halting the project and called it an entirely J&K Government’s decision.
The work on the 3.8 km-NREGS road project was stopped in late October after strong objections from the Chinese army. “The Government of India had no role to play in starting or halting the road project. It was entirely the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s decision,” said Krishna, adding that he came to know about the project through media reports.
Incidentally, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had clarified last month of briefing the Centre about the Chinese objections on the road project.
Responding to Murli Manohar Joshi charges for government actions putting across India as a weak country, Krishna reiterated the government’s stand.
“Were we weak kneed? We were told that the Dalai Lama and Prime Minster should not go to Arunachal Pradesh. Did Dalai Lama and the Prime Minister not go to Arunachal Pradesh? Let me reiterate our resolve that Arunachal Pradesh is a part and parcel of our country” said Krishna.
On the issue of China handing out visas stapled on paper to Kashmiri citizens, Krishna said, “We have reacted to it in a strong way. Anything which is not stopped on Indian passport will not be treated as a valid visa… How can you say our policy towards China is soft?”
Balancing government’s stand he added that India wanted good neighbourly relations with China and had tried to ‘defuse’ issues related to incursions, as it did not want to ‘enlarge the differences’ into major differences.
Admitting that incursions took place due to differing perceptions about the un-demarcated LAC, Krishna hoped that India would be able to contain the incursions through a newly established mechanism.