BJP wants talks with Pakistan suspended
The clamour for tough line against Pakistan appears to be growing after Islamabad made it plain to New Delhi that it will not turn in those involved in Mumbai bombings.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The clamour for tough line against Pakistan appears to be growing after Islamabad made it plain to New Delhi that it will not turn in those involved in Mumbai bombings.
The BJP, which sought an aggressive response to Pakistan’s recalcitrance, accused the Pervez Musharraf-led regime of breaking all promises given to India since the 1972 Shimla agreement.
BJP spokesman, who reiterated his party’s demand for suspension of talks, said the latesst stance of Islamabad proved that the ruling establishment here has failed to assess the General’s mood correctly. The BJP said the government has committed a grave mistake by giving the benefit of the doubt to the General.
“By declaring its unwillingness to hand over Mumbai train blast suspects to India, Pakistan has wiped out the essence of all the agreements between the two countries, right from Simla to Havana, in one go. Our party condemns Islamabad’s attitude in this regard,” the BJP spokesman said.
He said Pakistan has given a “burial” to the anti-terror joint mechanism before it came into being by declining extradition of the blast suspects. “This has once again proved how our government was wrong in assessing the real design and intent of Pakistan for continuation of bilateral talks,” he said.
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The BJP leader recalled Pakistan had earlier refused to extradite India’s most wanted and turned down Afghanistan’s charges of sheltering Taliban militants. He also accused Pakistan of interference with India’s internal affairs for calling Mumbai police findings pointing to the ISI involvement in the train bombings an attempt to deflect attention from last month’s attack in Malegaon. “The government of India must explain its position on these remarks of Pakistan, which are a case of interference in internal affairs of our country,” the BJP spokesman said.
On its part, the government has already made it clear that the institutionalisation of the joint mechanism would depend on Pakistan’s attitude at the foreign secretary-level talks. The suspended foreign-secretary level engagement is expected to resume after Ramzan.
Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon has already said that New Delhi was waiting for concrete actions from Pakistan for containing terror directed against India. “We will go by actions and not words,” he had said on Sunday after taking charge as foreign secretary.
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