Click to play videoNew Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was all set on Wednesday to answer to the Opposition on the Indo-Pakistan Joint Statement that he had undertaken with Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el-Shaikh in Egypt.
The opposition to the PM's signing on the dossier with his Pak counterpart on the sidelines of the NAM Summit had been threatening to boil over.
But when the PM spoke in Parliament, he was clearly on a sticky wicket.
His performance on the Floor of Parliament left more questions in its wake.
His answer on the volatile subject of Balochistan left none the wiser. BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had asked, "I will request the Prime Minister that whenever he intervenes in this debate, he may please take Parliament into confidence and tell us if he was given a certain dossier or wasn't he?"
To this, the Prime Minister replied in the negative.
Manmohan Singh's answers have left even experts groping for explanations.
An expert on international relations, former Diplomat KC Singh said, "There is a degree of strategic confusion on his (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's) approach. He says he must engage Pakistan. There is no option but to engage Pakistan. Now if you start a dialogue with a neighbouring country with this confession that I have no option but to engage you, it puts you at a negotiating disadvantage. What kind of a negotiation are you going to have?"
The Prime Minister then claimed that there would be no dialogue with Islamabad until the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil was dismantled, but the joint statement makes no reference to that.
In fact, it says the two foreign secretaries and foreign ministers will meet as often as needed.
The Prime Minister claimed to have scored a major success in not getting Kashmir included in the joint statement but the reference to "all outstanding issues" left no one in any doubt that Pakistan had not let go of its core issue.
He was on firmer ground though when he referred to Pakistani cooperation on the issue of November 2008 terror strikes in Mumbai.
Manmohan Singh told the Parliament, "This is the first time that Pakistan has ever formally briefed us on the results of an investigation into a terrorist attack in India. It has never happened before.
It is not just the Opposition that is demanding explanation on the Prime Minister's stand. Reportedly, some members of Congress are ill at ease about the deal Manmohan Singh inked at Sharm-el-Sheikh.
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