New Delhi: Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said on Monday that he was asked by the government to represent it at the Pakistan National Day reception at the Pakistani High Commission here, which also saw Kashmiri separatist leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik in attendance.
"The Government of India has to sent an MoS. They sent me and I went there and came back," he said replying to a question about his presence at the reception.
Asked specifically whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to attend the event at the Pakistani High Commission, he said, "The Government of India asked me to go there," as per PTI.
Later Singh posted a series of tweets on call of 'duty' and 'disgust' at some of the reactions on his attending Pakistani envoy's dinner.
#DUTY A task or action that a person is bound to perform for moral or legal reasons
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DUTY The force that binds one morally or legally to one's obligations
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DUTY A job or service allocated
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DISGUST To sicken or fill with loathing
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DISGUST To offend the moral sense, principles, or taste of
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#'Disgust'ed to see how certain sections of the media are twisting this issue
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
The Minister's visit to the Pakistani High Commission came on a day India and Pakistan sparred over Hurriyat leaders' meeting Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit with government making it clear that there was no role for a third party.
Chairman of Hurriyat Conference Farooq, along with Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Syed Hassan, Mussadiq Adil and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza had held talks with Basit last night.
Basit, who invited them to the Pakistan National Day celebrations, said that India was not against these interactions. However, India hit out, saying "the government of India prefers to speak for itself".
(With PTI inputs)
