Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi on Monday dismissed as false the allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma’s ex and his British wife of having links with the Pakistani establishment. He said the allegations were part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strategy ahead of this year’s assembly elections.
Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi. (x)On Sunday, Sarma cited a report by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Assam Police and said Gogoi was “trained” in Pakistan during a visit to that country in 2013, a year before the state Congress chief became a Lok Sabha member from Assam.
Gogoi said the SIT formed to probe his alleged Pakistan links did not question him even once. “It was only because of the Chief Minister [chief minister] I knew that if I told them the details of where I spent 10 days in Pakistan, it would be the anti-climax of their flop movie,” says Gogoi.
Sarma alleged that Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Colburn, a British national who worked in Pakistan and India for an international climate action group, had provided sensitive Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports to the neighboring country. He called the couple a “national threat”.
Gogoi said that despite a nearly two-and-a-half hour long press conference, Sarma failed to provide any evidence that the former was a Pakistani agent. “Even he failed to convince journalists from Delhi,” said Gogoi.
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He pointed out that Sarma had promised to disclose the details of the SIT probe on September 10 last year, but had not done so, as he realized that the probe had failed to prove his allegations. “If there is a national threat and links to Pakistan or the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), why did he wait six months to reveal the contents of the SIT probe. Why didn’t he take the matter to the Center and wait for the details to be revealed just before the assembly elections?” Gogoi asked.
Gogoi added that Sarma plans to release the SIT report closer to the poll date. He added that Sarma was forced to give it up earlier because he wanted to divert public attention from the land grab allegations against the chief minister’s family and support for the opposition Congress.
“I am very happy with the release of the super flop movie and was looking forward to it. We have not gone to court before regarding SIT probe and false allegations… If the court had stayed the work of SIT, BJP would have said that Congress wants to hide something,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi said he visited Pakistan with his wife, who was traveling there as part of her work with an international NGO. He added that his visa was initially only for travel to Lahore and he sought permission to visit the ancient city of Taxila, about 35 km from Islamabad.
“Details of my visit were available to the Indian government and once I became an MP [member of Parliament]I submitted my passport to the authorities. The allegation that my wife still has an active bank account in Pakistan is baseless…her bank account details are given in the affidavit submitted before I contested the elections,” he said.
Gogoi said his wife had not sent any confidential or sensitive IB report to Pakistan. He added that the report his wife sent to his office was based on media reports and was part of his duties as an employee of the climate action group he worked with.
“Whatever has been attributed to my wife for sharing sensitive information is false, baseless and fake. The report she sent was part of what was already available in the media,” Gogoi said.
He said Sarma should disclose the number of times he has visited Bangladesh and the people he met there and held political discussions.
Gogoi said Sarma had given details about their two children in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act. He added that the National Legislative Cell of the Congress will decide whether judicial recourse will be taken.
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Reacting to Sarma Gogoi’s comments, the Congress leader revealed that even he was not aware earlier. “Taxsheela (Taxsheela) is not in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi district of Punjab. This single incident raises a serious and unavoidable question. If his Pakistan visa expressly allows travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, how did he get to Taxila, which is outside the capital region of Islamabad and within Rawalpindi district?”
According to Pakistan’s immigration rules, travel outside visa-designated cities is not allowed without specific authorization, he said. “So the question is simple, practical and legitimate: Who facilitates his journey to Taxila despite the apparent absence of visa clearance for Rawalpindi district? This question acquires more significance as the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army is also located in Rawalpindi.” Posted by Sarma X.
