NEW DELHI: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday claimed that the 1988 nuclear agreement between India and Pakistan was signed under pressure from the United States, during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Sharing what he described as a declassified letter on X, Dubey alleged that then US President Ronald Reagan had dictated the agenda of talks between New Delhi and Islamabad.“Under American pressure, we spoke to Pakistani President General Zia. The agenda for the talks was set by the US President,” Dubey posted on X.“What we understood after this letter was that Pakistan and we did the nuclear deal in 1988 under American pressure.”The BJP leader further questioned Congress’s silence on the issue. “Why is Congress angry? When I saw this paper, I felt ashamed,” he added, attaching a copy of the letter that he said was addressed by Reagan to Rajiv Gandhi.Dubey also accused the Congress-led government of aligning with US interests in its foreign policy decisions. “Whatever we talked to our friend Soviet Russia about on the Afghanistan problem was an American agenda. Is this the Shimla Agreement? Is the Iron Lady the mentality of slavery? Were we a sovereign nation at that time? Is Congress abusing Modi Ji to make India stronger?” he wrote.The 1988 agreement between India and Pakistan, officially known as the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, was signed on 31 December 1988 and came into force on 27 January 1991. It obligates both nations to annually share lists of nuclear facilities and refrain from attacking each other’s nuclear infrastructure.Dubey’s remarks come amid renewed domestic debate over foreign involvement in India-Pakistan diplomacy, particularly following the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s subsequent Operation Sindoor. He also referred to a letter reportedly written by Rajiv Gandhi to Reagan seeking mediation with Pakistan, a move he said violated the 1972 Shimla Agreement which barred third-party mediation.“It is not easy to be Gandhi,” Dubey said, asserting that Rajiv Gandhi’s request for American intervention was contrary to India’s stated diplomatic policy.Earlier, the BJP MP had posted a declassified 1971 US intelligence cable suggesting that Indira Gandhi had agreed to a UN ceasefire during the Bangladesh Liberation War due to international pressure. The post was aimed at countering opposition criticism of the government’s current diplomatic approach.Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for remaining silent on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s alleged remarks about possible American mediation in India-Pakistan talks. India has since reaffirmed its longstanding stance that all issues with Pakistan, including those concerning Jammu and Kashmir, must be addressed bilaterally without foreign mediation.
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