Sir, This is to express our condemnation of your plan to meet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during upcoming UN Assembly meeting in New York. We are wondering what has changed since the26/11 attack to call for this measure? The infiltration attempts have been doubled this year, and Pakistan Army’s daring overtures have only seen an upsurge. With terror activities on the rise, your meeting with PM Sharif will only embolden Pakistani Army and ISI’s resolve to ‘bleed India with a thousand cuts’.

The Indian diaspora was outraged by the unfortunate and uncalled for dilution of the army statement by Defense Minister A K Antony, giving clean chit to Pakistan in the brutal and provocative killing of five Indian soldiers on August 6th, 2013. This grave mistake was later corrected; however, some concrete action remains yet to be seen. Our heart goes out to the families of the brave soldiers for their loss. The loss of these five soldiers, namely, Naik Prem Nath Singh (21 Bihar Regiment), Lance Naik Shambhu Saran Rey (21 Bihar Regiment), Sipahi Vinay Kumar Rey (21 Bihar Regiment), Sipahi Raghu Nandan Prasad (21 Bihar Regiment) and Naik Pundalik Mane (Maharashtra Regiment), is a loss for a proud nation, and its every citizen.

Instead of taking tough action against the perpetrators of this action, i.e. Pakistani Army and terrorists, government seems to be giving a clean chit to them. Immediately after the incidence Indian Army’s official briefing directly held Pakistani Army responsible for the dastardly act (press release # PRO/Jammu/425/Aug/2013). After this, Defense Minister Antony gave a statement in Parliament (press release # PRO/Jammu/426/Aug/2013) which took out the name of Pakistan Army. In another significant change he changed the location of the incident from “close to the Line of Control” to “our side of Line of Control”.

Then in a clarification Mr. Antony said that he was not aware of the ground situation, and awaits an update from the Indian Army officers visiting the ground. If Mr. Antony was not aware of the ground situation, what was the need to give a statement in the parliament? Wasn’t this an irresponsible and demoralizing action for our soldiers and for our country, that knowingly we are avoiding calling the enemy by name? A similar incident took place on January 8th when two soldiers from 13 Rajputana Rifles, namely Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, were killed and beheaded. Their heads were taken as trophies, and the perpetrators were openly rewarded inside Pakistan.

Just one week after the incident, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid invited the Prime Minister for Chicken Biryani at his place. How can these treacherous and demoralizing acts be justified to the bereaved families of martyred soldiers? Particular when these acts are done by sitting ministers of the central government, who have no concrete measures to offer – except for cheap talk. It was proven beyond doubt that Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of the 26/11 attackers was a Pakistani national.

It has been widely reported that India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim is living in Pakistan under military protection. Osama Bin Laden was found living near the army cantonment. The dubious dealings of Pakistan’s Army and ISI are known to everyone, and the proxy war they are waging against India is beyond doubt. Yet Government of India seems very wishy washy about these acts and moving forward with business as usual as if nothing has happened.

We, as students, professionals and responsible citizens of India, unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, and their weak and demoralizing responses by the Government of India. By failing to curb these terror activities, by failing to give a fitting response, and by continuing normal relations with Pakistan you are not only hurting the moral of the nation, but also encouraging our enemies to continue these activities.

We hope that you will take strongest possible measures to ensure safety of our borders, our soldiers, and our regional and geopolitical interests. We truly hope that members of your cabinet will be more sensitive in their actions, and careful in their professional conduct so as not to demoralize the citizens and soldiers of our country. Lastly, we emphatically call for a cancellation of your meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister. We firmly believe that unless there is peace on our borders and a significant reduction in terror activities – for an extended duration, relationships with Pakistan should be put on hold at all levels. Terror and talks cannot go together