UPA govt trying to bail out Pakistan, alleges BJP

NEW DELHI: Home minister P Chidambaram���s statement warning Pakistan that it will have to pay heavily if a 26/11-type of terror attack was repeated came under fire from the BJP here on Monday, with the principal Opposition party viewing it as yet another sign of India loosening its grip over the neighbouring country.

The BJP, which had backed the post-26/11 reflexes of the Manmohan Singh government, has of late become quite critical of the moves being made by the government to rein in Pakistan. The government, it feels, was not doing enough.

���It seems that the warning rhetoric of the UPA government against Pakistan has converted into a bail-out plan for the neighbouring country,������ BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told newspersons here on Monday afternoon, ���Mr Chidamabaram���s statement that Pakistan will have to pay enormously if such a strike is repeated is a testimony to this bail-out plan.������

The Centre launched an offensive in coercive diplomacy immediately after 26/11. The BJP, Mr Javadekar pointed out, supported this move in the national interest. ���But Pakistan has been in a continuous denial mode. It seems that, of late, the Manmohan Singh government is now warning Pakistan for the future, in a way condoning the present act,������ the BJP spokesman alleged, and asked the government to come clean as to the actions to be taken in the light of the 26/11 assault and in the face of Pakistan���s denial.

The BJP spokesman also debunked Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi���s ���helplessness��� in extraditing the terror suspects to India on the plea that there was no extradition treaty between the two countries. ���The argument is nor acceptable,������ he said.