Refrain From CBMs till Pak Acts on Terror, BJP

Sticking to its guns, the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Rajnath Singh, has accused the government of recent changes in the country’s foreign policy and urged the UPA to refrain from initiating confidence building measures with Pakistan until Islamabad puts an end to the use of its soil for terror attacks on India.

Referring to the Indo-Pak joint statement issued on July 16, at Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, Singh disagreed with the government’s claim that reference to Balochistan was “unilateral intervention” by Pakistan, saying it has never happened in the past.

Addressing the party state executive in Bangalore, Rajnath said: “This (unilateral intervention) has not happened in any Indo-Pak joint statement in the past.”

He said the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart had “diluted” India’s focus on terrorism.

“There is no need for confidence building measures with Pakistan till it stops terrorism on its soil,” he stressed and urged the government to initiate “damage control” action.

Speaking on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Singh claimed that the BJP had warned the Government that it would face pressure on NPT-CTBT but the Prime Minister had over ruled the aspersions and said that the deal would strengthen strategic ties with the US.

“Now, the G8 has said unless India signs NPT, enrichment and reprocessing technologies cannot be supplied to it,” he said. “India has become a laughing stock,” he added.

(With Inputs from Indian Express and Sahara Samay)