'Signed under pressure': BJP MP cites declassified letter to Rajiv Gandhi from former US President Ronald Reagan questioning nuclear pact
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.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
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.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
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
. 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
21 minutes ago
- Time of India
Tesla stock slides over 5% after Elon Musk criticizes Donald Trump, President says he's disappointed
Tesla Shares Drop Over 5% Amid Musk-Trump Fallout Donald Trump Is Very Disappointed With Elon Musk Live Events False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025 Musk Denies Being Consulted on the Bill Analysts Weigh In on Risks for Tesla FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Tesla shares dropped over 5% on Thursday after investors noticed the growing tensions between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and US president Donald Trump, as per a report. The slide comes as Musk openly criticized Trump's massive tax legislation, stirring speculation that the once-friendly relationship between them may be coming to an end, according to a Reuters who called himself Trump's 'First Buddy' and led the administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, took to his social media platform X to call the legislation a 'disgusting abomination,' as per the report. The Tesla CEO said, "It more than defeats all the cost savings achieved by the DOGE team at great personal cost and risk," as quoted by responded by pointing out that Musk was upset because the bill would remove the electric vehicle mandates and said, "Don't know if we'll have a great relationship anymore," as quoted in the READ: Cargo ship carrying electric vehicles catches fire off Alaska – key points you need to know The US president also told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that, "I'm very disappointed with Elon. I've helped him a lot. He knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem & he only developed the problem when he found out we're going to cut EV mandate," as per a post shared by Musk on his X went on to respond to Trump's accusations on X, by saying, "False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" as per Musk's X a portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, Jed Ellerbroe told Reuters, "The budget bill contains bad stuff for Tesla with the end of the EV credits, and just generally his falling out with Trump has risks for Tesla and Elon's other companies," as quoted in the are worried because Elon Musk publicly criticized President Trump's tax bill as the tension might hurt Tesla's called it a 'disgusting abomination' and said it cancels out cost savings his government efficiency team worked hard to achieve.
Mint
28 minutes ago
- Mint
Donald Trump says it might be good to let Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while'
During a meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, President Donald Trump remarked that it might be better to allow Ukraine and Russia to 'fight for a while' before stepping in to separate them and pursue peace. Comparing the conflict to a quarrel between two young children who despise each other, Trump said he had conveyed this analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their phone conversation the previous day. Chancellor Merz, seated alongside Trump, emphasised their shared condemnation of the ongoing war, describing it as 'terrible' and highlighting Trump's role as a key figure capable of ending the bloodshed. However, Merz was clear that Germany firmly supports Ukraine, noting that Kyiv targets only military objectives and not Russian civilians. 'We are trying to get them stronger,' he added. This marked the first in-person meeting between the two leaders, who exchanged pleasantries including a gift from Merz to Trump—a gold-framed birth certificate of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Germany. Their discussions were expected to cover a range of issues including the war in Ukraine, trade relations, and NATO defence spending. Since assuming office on 6 May, Merz and Trump have spoken several times by phone, with German officials describing the relationship as 'decent' and Merz seeking to avoid the antagonism that characterised Trump's dealings with his predecessor, Angela Merkel. Merz, a conservative with a strong business background and former rival to Merkel, has been active in diplomatic efforts surrounding Ukraine, travelling to Kyiv shortly after taking office and hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. A White House official indicated that Trump planned to raise topics such as Germany's defence spending, trade, Ukraine, and concerns over 'democratic backsliding,' suggesting that shared values like freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and should be restored. Merz responded by saying he was open to discussing German domestic politics but stressed that Germany generally refrains from commenting on American internal affairs. Under Merz's predecessor, Olaf Scholz, Germany became the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Merz has pledged to maintain this support and recently committed to assisting Ukraine in developing long-range missile systems free from range restrictions. Despite his comments on letting the conflict play out, Trump did not rule out sanctions, warning that 'when I see the moment where it's not going to stop … we'll be very, very tough,' signalling that sanctions could be imposed on both Ukraine and Russia. Domestically, Merz's government is intensifying efforts to strengthen the German military, a campaign initiated by Scholz following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trump, who criticised Germany during his first term for failing to meet NATO's 2% GDP defence spending target, is now demanding that allies increase their contributions to at least 5%. The upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month is seen as a crucial opportunity for Germany to commit to this higher spending level.
&w=3840&q=100)
India.com
31 minutes ago
- India.com
How Does Pakistan Keep Getting Loans? Unpacking The Dirty Secrets Behind The Global Funding That Shields A Failing State
New Delhi: Pakistan is broke. Its economy is shattered. Foreign reserves are vanishing. Yet it keeps getting blank cheques. Weeks after the International Monetry Fund (IMF) handed it over $1 billion in emergency funds plus an additional $1.3 billion in loans, the nuclear-armed state got another $800 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). India protested. The world ignored. And it is not the first time. Why does a nation with internal chaos and globally infamous for harboring terrorists keeps getting rewarded? Despite global acknowledgment of Pakistan's double-faced policies – begging for aid while exporting 'jihad' – the money keeps flowing. So what makes Pakistan the global community's 'spoiled child with a nuclear button'? The answer is not economic. It is political, strategic and dangerously hypocritical. Let's get this straight: Pakistan is not getting loans because it deserves them. It is getting them because the world is afraid of what will happen if it collapses. Its economy is in tatters. Pakistan's forex reserves dipped in 2023 below $3 billion – barely enough for three weeks of imports. The 2022 floods cost the country more than $30 billion in damages. 1. Too Nuclear to Fail: Pakistan's debt has ballooned to over $130 billion. If it defaults, global banks lose billions. It is financial blackmail that is working. 2. Location: Sitting between China, Afghanistan and Iran, the country holds strategic real estate. The West, especially the United States, does not want it slipping entirely into China's orbit. 3. A Loan with Strings: These are not freebies. IMF and ADB loans come with demands – raise taxes, cut subsidies and sell public assets. Western companies often swoop in to buy the leftovers. Global lending institutions like the IMF and the ADB may present themselves as neutral bodies, but their actions suggest otherwise. They claim to operate on technical grounds, but do not blink twice when handing over billions to a country that fuels terrorism in Kashmir and harbors global fugitives. And where is India in this equation? Despite protests after attacks like Pahalgam, New Delhi's influence is minimal. India's voting share in the IMF is small compared to the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, Pakistan's removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in 2022 made getting loans even easier. The United States sees Pakistan as a pawn in its Afghanistan endgame. China, through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is turning it into a client state. Loans are just the leash – a way to pull Pakistan closer when needed and push it when not. Who Really Benefits? Not the people of Pakistan. Experts like Sushant Sareen argue these loans fatten the Pakistani military, not fuel reforms. Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal warns that the IMF funding indirectly supports terror. Even former Pakistani envoy Husain Haqqani admits that the IMF is an ICU for Pakistan, not a cure. These loans do not save Pakistan. They sustain it just enough to remain a useful mess. A mess that is allowed to fester because it serves the interests of those who pretend to fix it. Pakistan is not only playing the victim, it is gaming the system and the system is letting it.
