BJP hits out at Krishna for Taliban remarks

NEW DELHI: BJP on Thursday came down heavily on external affairs minister S M Krishna for his purported remark favouring a political settlement in Afghanistan, ``with the Taliban������ on board.

Citing excerpts from an interview given to a prestigious international daily, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that Mr Krishna has said that ``there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and that NATO combat operations should give way to a political settlement with Taliban.������

Condemning the purported remark as ``highly irresponsible,������ BJP spokesman asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come clean on the government���s position.

Mr Krishna, speaking to a news agency later, was quick to deny that he had made out any case for a political settlement in Afghanistan, and said that he had spoken about a ``political settlement among the people.������

India, the external affairs minister clarified, does not make any distinction between ���a good Taliban and a bad Taliban,��� and considers the extremist group as a terrorist organisation.

���Taliban per se from the Indian point of view is a sheer terrorist organisation,������ Mr Krishna said. ``What the people of Afghanistan want is something that they have to decide for themselves,������ he added.

BJP, however, remained unconvinced, asserting that the foreign minister had, by speaking out in favour of negotiations with the Taliban, had gone ``against the well-recognised policy of India.������

``This is a very loaded statement and coming from the foreign minister of India, it has far-reaching
implications,������ the BJP spokesman contended, adding, ``Taliban today creates fear and it stands for massacre, murder, torture and the most extreme and brutal form of medieval violence. Women are the worst victims of their torture, which would put any civil society to shame.������

The Taliban, according to Mr Prasad, was also keen on extending its area of sphere to other parts of the world. ``Their agenda is distinctly also to destabilise India, and for this purpose various terrorist groups operating within and attacking our country also get overt and covert support from the Taliban,������ he said. ``We demand that the prime minister must immediately explain as to the government���s position is on such an utterly irresponsible comment of the foreign minister,������ the BJP spokesman added.