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| BJP says no talks with Pak, Congress says BJP politicising Osama’s killing | | Fierce Debate | |
STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 5: The killing of the world’s most wanted terrorist and the mastermind of 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Osama Bin Laden, has triggered a fierce controversy in India. The BJP, which bungled several times when it ruled the country between 1998 and May 2004 and brought bad name to India by pursuing weak-kneed policies towards Pakistan and the Pakistani operative in Kashmir, has used the opportunity provided by the United States to corner the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discontinue talks with Pakistan and adopt a national and rational approach towards Jammu and Kashmir. Remember, it was the BJP that dumbfounded the nation in 1999, when it reached an agreement with Pakistan at Colombo vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir – agreement that could not be implemented because of the internal situation in India and certain external factors. The agreement had proposed demilitarization of Kashmir, maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir and its adjoining areas, irrelevant Line of Control, and even division of Jammu province along the Chenab River, obviously, on communal lines.
The BJP has now questioned the Prime Minister’s decision to resume dialogue process with Pakistan, saying Islamabad has stopped using terror tactics in order to promote its geo-political interests in the region and annex Jammu and Kashmir. Similarly, the BJP had rejected out-of-hand the Prime Minister’s suggestion that Pakistan, like India, is also a victim of terrorism. On the contrary, the BJP has told the Prime Minister that “Pakistan is sponsor of terrorism” and, hence, New Delhi must not talk to Islamabad. It should talk to Pakistan only after the latter fulfills her January 4, 2004 solemn commitment that Islamabad shall not allow its territory to be used for exporting terrorism into India. The BJP has, in addition, questioned the very rationale behind his decision to restart the dialogue process with Pakistan saying Islamabad has not taken any action whatever against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and that dreaded terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, Daud Abrahim, Lakhvi and Syed Salah-ud-Din are not only roaming about freely in Pakistan but also preaching sedition against India.
The refrain of the BJP, in short, is that it would be suicidal to talk to Pakistan anymore and that it would be only desirable if the Union Government takes recourse to some hot pursuits so that the perpetrators of 26/11 are brought to justice and Pakistan the place it deserves. In other words, the BJP has accused the Congress of shaming India at Sharm-el-Sheikh, taking the nation for a ride, not forcing Islamabad to respect the January 4, 2004 pledge it solemnly took in the presence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Islamabad and go in for what it called “coercive and effective diplomacy.” To be more precise, the BJP urged the Prime Minister to pursue the American line that permits action against the enemy deep inside Pakistan – Pakistan that is a terrorist Satan.
All right-thinking people of India would surely endorse what the BJP said yesterday while asking the Prime Minister to reverse his Pakistan and Kashmir policy. For, what it said was appropriate, correct and rational. It was hoped that the Congress would appreciate the change of heart on the part of the BJP and endorse the BJP line in the larger national interest and in order to send a clear message across the globe that India means business, that it would not tolerate anything nonsense any longer, that it shall defend the paramount national interests at any cost and that it would not buckle under any kind of pressure being exerted by the United States and similar other countries who preach and practice double standards.
Mercifully, the Congress and the Congress-led UPA Government have thought otherwise despite the fact that the United States has caused grave provocation by making a very controversial statement. The United States has, for example, urged India not to pursue the American line and asked her to “show restraint.” The Congress has said talks would continue; talking to Pakistan doesn’t mean a sign of weakness; India and Pakistan have a shared destiny; we are acting according to the situation; don’t assume that we have done or not done something wrong and that we are going back to the pre-26/11 situation. So much so, the Congress has shamelessly accused the BJP of politicising the killing of Osama.
As for the sources within the UPA Government; they have said: “Osama’s killing will not change the ‘universe of the discourse’ between India and Pakistan…Talks with Pakistan will continue...We have to engage them with these issues (terrorism). We have to focus on the issues of concern that we have with Pakistan...They have serious problems within that country at the moment confronting the monster that they have played a role in creating....But we have to engage them on the issues of normalisation, whether it comes to trade, humanitarian exchange, prisoners, cross LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir…”
It appears there are elements in the Congress and the political establishment in New Delhi who are hell-bent to queer the Indian pitch in Kashmir and appease Pakistan no nation worth its name would ever believe in and depend upon. It also appears that these elements, which are all out to pamper Pakistan that is on the verge of disintegration, are under the baneful influence of some powers, especially the United States. How else should one interpret the chicken-hearted response of the Congress and the Congress-led UPA Government? One thing is clear: The Congress and the UPA Government are bound to fail and face the nation’s ire. It is also clear that the Congress is out to destroy itself and hand over power to the BJP on a platter. If the Congress and the UPA Government really wish to win over the nation and remain relevant, they have no other option but to pursue the American line. India is capable of doing so. Even our Army chief General V K Singh has suggested so.
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