India has surrendered under int'l pressure, says BJP

New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Terming as "sheer betrayal" and
"U-turn" India's agreement with Pakistan that terrorism should
not be linked to the composite dialogue process, main
opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Friday said the
government has "surrendered under international pressure".

"We will strongly oppose this (the joint statement by
India and Pakistan delinking terrorism from composite
dialogue). India has surrendered under international pressure
... We staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha on the issue. Under
no circumstances will BJP compromise on this," Deputy Leader
of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar also said, "This
step by India has come as a shock. It is sheer betrayal and
U-turn by the government. They are buckling under
international pressure."

Swaraj said her party position is that once terrorism is
taken out of the dialogue process, it could no longer be
called "composite".

"The dialogue ceases to be composite the moment terrorism
is removed from it...We call it composite as economic issues,
trade relations and cultural ties are discussed along with
terrorism.

"If terrorism is set aside, then how does the dialogue
become composite? It ceases to be composite as a composite
dialogue has to be all-pervasive," she said.

"We will oppose this move by the government," Swaraj
added.

Swaraj said nothing was ever final in diplomacy and BJP
was not open to dialogue with Pakistan "unless and until"
terrorism was included among the issues to be discussed.

She argued that Pakistan had only made an oral commitment
on curbing terrorism and such assurances had no credibility.

The BJP leader also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
statement in the lower house of Parliament Lok Sabha Friday on
the issue had come as a "big disappointment".

She said the erstwhile NDA regime had taken several
measures to improve bilateral relations with Pakistan but
never compromised on the issue of terrorism.

"The NDA government took the initiative and leaders
travelled to Lahore by bus and held a cordial meeting with
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," Swaraj said.

Despite the Kargil war which occurred soon thereafter,
the NDA government invited then President Pervez Musharraf for
the Agra summit."The Agra talks broke down as Musharraf
maintained what we call terrorism in Kashmir as freedom
struggle and Kashmir should be made the core issue of the
talks," she said.

In the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, the UPA government
rightly took a "tough stand" against Pakistan till the Joint
Statement in Sharm-el Sheikh. BJP was ready and would call for
a structured debate on the issue in Lok Sabha as suggested by
Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, Swaraj added.

Another BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy dubbed the
government's move as an attempt to "dilute" India's fight
against terror. "There was no reason to dilute the intensity
of our crusade against terror which we believe is the nation's
priority," Rudy said. PTI RC
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