MUMBAI: National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday denied that he had bypassed the Ministry of External Affairs while talking peace to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit last month. He maintained that it was wrong to say that the Prime Minister’s Office dictated the terms.
Doval’s clarification came at a time when India has taken an initiative for NSA-level talks with Pakistan in New Delhi on August 14 and 15.
Doval was in the city to deliver a lecture on the topic ‘State security, statecraft and conflict of values’ at a function organised by Lalit Doshi Memorial Foundation.
“There was no embarrassment to Sushma Swaraj on this issue,” Doval said, while replying to a question after his lecture.
“At Ufa, it was absolutely necessary to tell them (Pakistan) without any loss of time that you stop it (cross-border terrorism), otherwise we will retaliate. This message was concurrently given to our High Commissioner in Islamabad and to the High Commissioner of Pakistan here. When there is an emergency, you do not go into who should be talking to whom. If a Commissioner of Police is sitting in a room and a constable saves someone’s life, it is not an embarrassment to the Commissioner,” he said.
Doval, who had personally supervised the security arrangements in the city when Yakub Memon was hanged on July 30, stated that the 1993 bomb blast convict’s hanging was not an act of revenge.
“It is wrong to say that he was hanged because we could not catch Tiger Memon. It is not a case where you slap my grandson because you can’t do anything to me. There is no logic behind the argument. Inter-linkage is not correct,” he said.
To another question, Doval said he absolutely justified violence if it was required to maintain supreme interests of the nation. “I justify the violence to maintain statecraft with a rider. Supreme interest of the nation must have the top priority. There cannot be any compromise on it,” he said.