news details |
|
|
| Advani cautions Kasuri against "quick-fix" solution of Kashmir | | |
NEW DELHI, FEB 21
Cautioning against any "quick-fix" solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue, the main opposition BJP today told Pakistan that people of India would not accept any surrender on Kashmir.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani told visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, who met him at his residence here, that progress should also be made on other issues that are part of the composite dialogue process.
"There are eight issues in the ongoing composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan. These pertain to enhancing trade and economic cooperation, people-to-people contacts and specific confidence-building measures, besides Jammu and Kashmir.
"Let us, therefore, make progress on all these various issues, without attempting to arrive at a quick-fix solution to the J and K issue," he remarked.
The BJP leader, however, said Kashmir is seen by the Indian people as one of the two most important issues between the two countries.
"(From the point of view of the Indian people) the two most important issues affecting Indo-Pak relations are cross-border terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir.Our people will not accept any compromise on terrorism or any surrender on Jammu and Kashmir," a party statement quoted Advani as telling Kasuri.
He, however, reaffirmed his party's commitment to the continuation of the peace process on a principled basis whether in opposition or in Government.
Advani told Kasuri that Islamabad should honour its 2004 commitment to dismantle terror camps there.
"Issues relating to Indo-Pak relations are different. Even the common man in India is conscious of most problems between our two countries and has a definite viewpoint on how to normalise bilateral relations. Therefore, whichever Government is in office, it must take decisions keeping in mind how the people react," the BJP leader said.
Advani, who last week hailed Shivratri celebrations at Katasraj temples in Pakistan as a "good sign", appreciated Islamabad for having invited 150 pilgrims from India to the sacred site near Lahore.
In his comments at a news conference, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded that Pakistan should extradite to India Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in connection with the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai.
"When Kasuri is here, we would like to demand that Pakistan hand over Dawood to India," he said.
Prasad also flayed a Pakistani assembly resolution that called for a joint investigation in the Samjhauta Express bombings.
He rejected as "laughable" and "baseless" news reports in Pakistan that Hindu outfits could be behind the Samjhauta attack. "We would like our Government also to take note of them and reject them outrightly," he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
