Baseless, bogus allegations with polls in mind, Gaurav Gogoi on ‘Pak links’| India News
Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi on Monday dismissed chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations against the former and his British wife of having links with Pakistan’s establishment as bogus. He said the allegations were part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tactics ahead of the assembly polls this year.
On Sunday, Sarma cited a report of Assam Police’s special investigation team (SIT) and said Gogoi was “trained” in Pakistan during a trip to that country in 2013, a year before the state Congress chief became a Lok Sabha member from Assam.
Gogoi said the SIT constituted to probe his alleged Pakistan links did not question him even once. “It was only because the CM [chief minister] knew that if I told them the details of where I spent 10 days in Pakistan, that would been the anti-climax of their flop movie,” said Gogoi.
Sarma alleged that Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Colburn, a British citizen, who worked in Pakistan and India for an international climate action group, supplied sensitive Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports to the neighbouring country. He termed the couple as “national threats”.
Gogoi said that despite a long press conference that stretched nearly two and a half hours, Sarma failed to provide any evidence that the former was a Pakistani agent. “He even failed to convince the journalists who were flown in from Delhi,” said Gogoi.
He pointed out that Sarma had promised to release details of the SIT investigation on September 10 last year, but did not do so, as he realised the probe failed to substantiate his allegations. “If there was a national threat and links to Pakistan or Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), why was he waiting for six months to disclose the contents of the SIT probe. Why did he not take the matter to the Centre for action and wait to release the details just ahead of the assembly polls?” questioned Gogoi.
Gogoi added that Sarma was planning to make the SIT report public close to the polling dates. He added Sarma was forced to release it earlier as he wanted to distract the public from the allegations of land grab against the chief minister’s family and the support the opposition Congress was getting.
“I am very happy at the release of the super flop movie and was waiting for it. We did not approach the court earlier about the SIT probe and the false allegations…if the courts had imposed a stay on the SIT’s work, the BJP would have stated that Congress wants to hide something,” said Gogoi
Gogoi said he visited Pakistan with his wife, who was travelling there as part of her work with an international NGO. He added that his visa was initially for travel only to Lahore, and he sought permission to visit the ancient town of Taxila, around 35 km from Islamabad.
“The details of my visit were available with the Indian government, and once I became an MP [member of Parliament], I submitted my passport to the authorities. The allegations that my wife still has an active bank account in Pakistan are baseless…details of her bank accounts are provided in the affidavit submitted before I contested elections,” he said.
Gogoi said that his wife did not send any confidential or sensitive IB report to Pakistan. He added that the report that his wife sent to her office was based on media reports and was part of her duties as an employee of the climate action group she worked with.
“Everything that has been attributed to my wife as having shared sensitive information is false, baseless, and bogus. The report that she sent was part of what was already available in the media,” said Gogoi.
He said Sarma should disclose how many times he has visited Bangladesh and the persons he met there and held political discussions with.
Gogoi said Sarma revealed details about their two children in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act. He added that the Congress’s national legal cell will decide on what judicial recourse to take.
Sarma responded to Gogoi’s comments, saying the Congress leader disclosed that even he was not previously aware of. “Takshashila (Taxila) is not located in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi District, Punjab. This single fact raises a serious and unavoidable question. If his Pakistan visa explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, how did he visit Takshashila, which lies outside the Islamabad Capital Territory and squarely within Rawalpindi District?”
He said under Pakistan’s immigration rules, travel beyond visa-designated cities is not permitted without specific authorisation. “So the question is simple, factual, and legitimate: Who facilitated his movement to Takshashila despite the apparent absence of visa clearance for Rawalpindi District? This question gains further significance given that Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ)—the nerve centre of the Pakistani military—is also located in Rawalpindi,” Sarma posted on X.
