BJP recalibrates its position, but expects Pakistan to deliver

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the proposed foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan this month, the ruling BJP is expecting concrete action from PM Nawaz Sharif on pro-Pakistan militant groups to justify recalibration of the party’s stance from “talk and terror cannot go together” to “talk on terror”.

With the Indian establishment suspecting that the terrorists received training at Pak air bases, some BJP leaders indicated they expected swift and “concrete action” from Islamabad like it did in its crackdown after the Peshawar school terror attack.

“Response from Pakistan would play a decisive role,” said a BJP leader about the foreign secretary-level talks. In this context, the much anticipated foreign secretary-level talks now appear hanging by a thread given the short duration available for Islamabad to act on evidence provided by India.

The BJP, which had been asserting that “talk and terror cannot go together” during the previous UPA regime, has, however, tagged the party’s position with that of the government on the issue of talks with Pakistan after coming to power. While the Congress has targeted it for its policy towards Pak, and the BJP has also been under fire on social media over this issue, the ruling party has justified recalibration of its position to coincide with that of the government as natural.

“Absolutely not. We are pursuing talks on terror,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said in response to queries on whether the party has shifted away from its established position that “talk and terror cannot go together” ignoring the fact that the BJP government is pursuing a “Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue” and not merely talk on terror.

The BJP on Wednesday jumped on the opportunity provided by Congress leader Sushil Shinde’s press conference to claim that the Modi government has been qualitatively different.

“It is a successful operation where timely intelligence and alert action has ensured no damage is done to strategic assets despite fidayeen attempts to wreak havoc. Contrasting this with 26/11 (Mumbai terror attacks), this (Pathankot terror) attack has been handled with a great finesse,” claimed BJP spokesman GVL Narsimha Rao.