No proof of Pak link in SIT report of Assam Police: Gaurav Gogoi

Guwahati (PTI): Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Monday claimed that there was nothing in the Assam Police reportto prove Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's allegations of “Pakistani links” against him.

Gogoi also questioned why Sarma was “sitting” over the SIT report for six months if there was any evidence of him being involved in “anti-national” activities.

The Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha said he will be exploring legal action against Sarma for publicly revealing passport and other details of his minor children.

Addressing a press conference a day after Sarma revealed the findings of the SIT probe into Gogoi's “Pakistani link”, he said, "The CM did not want to reveal the SIT report. He sat over it for six months. He went page by page through it but could not find any evidence to back his allegations of me undergoing some training (in Pakistan), being an ISI agent, etc.”

“If the findings were so important from the national security point of view, why did he wait for six months? If help of central and international agencies was needed for the probe, why did be sit over it?” Gogoi asked.

Assembly polls are due in Assam in March-April.

Sarma and the BJP have been attacking Gogoi over his wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency ISI, with the state government forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a case of alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India's internal affairs.

Revealing details of the SIT report on Sunday, Sarma had alleged that Gogoi, Colburn and Sheikh have a "deeper connection", and information from the IB was secretly provided to the neighbouring nation.

He had said the Assam government has decided to refer the case and the SIT report to the central government for further investigation.

Dismissing the allegations brought against him by Sarma based on the SIT report, Gogoi said “dragging” his minor children into it was a “new low for even the chief minister”.

“Details about my children aged 5 and 9 years were put out in public, which cannot be shared. I want to warn the CM that we also know all about your children, who are much older, but we don’t want to reveal anything. Don’t force me to do so,” Gogoi said.

On his 10-day stay in Pakistan in December 2013, Gogoi claimed that his wife had visited the neighbouring country for work-related purpose and he had accompanied her.

Gogoi said his wife had worked on an international programme in Pakistan for a year in 2012, and was later posted in India as part of the same work, which led her to visit the neighbouring nation again.

“I wanted to see how a European had stayed in a country like Pakistan… we visited many places, including Takshashila. The SIT never questioned me about my 2013 visit to Pakistan for 10 days. It should have questioned me as the CM was yesterday only asking about it,” the Congress leader said.

He also clarified that his wife does not hold any active bank account in Pakistan, nor were any information sourced from the IB incorporated in the reports she submitted to her higher-ups after shifting to India.

Gogoi rejected Sarma’s claim that the CM had not revealed the SIT findings immediately after the report was submitted, as popular singer Zubeen Garg had died soon afterwards, and the people of the state were in a state of mourning.

“The SIT report was submitted on September 10 and Zubeen da died on September 19,” he said.

The Congress leader claimed that Sarma wanted to delay contents of the SIT report till just before the polls, but was forced to make it public sooner as he was cornered after the opposition party exposed the “land grabbing” by the CM and his family.

“He (Sarma) should focus on real issues of the state, like ST status for six communities, rampant drug abuse, and other problems,” Gogoi added.