Oppn seeks Indian president's help on Indo-Pak joint statement

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) A National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) delegation Tuesday met Indian President Pratibha Patil
and asked her to "intervene" and give "correct advice" to the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on the recent
Indo-Pak Joint Statement and other recent foreign policy
initiatives.

"Our demand to the President was that she should
intervene and give correct advice to the government on these
issues," Leader of Opposition L K Advani told reporters, after
submitting a memorandum to Patil.

"One-by-one, facts about the Indo-Pakistan Joint
Statement have come to light which have raised doubts," the
senior BJP leader said.

Two major doubts which arose after this Joint Statement
were delinking of terrorism from the composite dialogue
process and the mention of Balochistan in the document, the
leader of Opposition said.

Advani said, till now there was a consensus inside and
outside Parliament that until Pakistan took "satisfactory
steps" in combating terrorism, there could be no progress in
talks. Similarly, Balochistan -- which had never been
mentioned in any talks -- has found a place in the Statement,
he said.

The manner in which it has been mentioned in the Joint
Statement gives the impression that we are "doing something"
there, Advani said.

The issues of climate change and "imposition of NPT
through the back door" on India were also brought up by the
delegation.

The NDA delegation also told the President that after
the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, NPT was being "imposed on
India through the back door".

Advani said India had always had an independent foreign
policy but "foreign pressure" was visible in the recent
developments.

The senior BJP leader maintained that during the NDA
regime India had good relations with Pakistan but never
compromised on the issue of terrorism.

India made "earnest efforts" like the Lahore bus
diplomacy and inviting President Pervez Musharraf for the Agra
summit.

On the issue of climate change, Advani said India's stand
was that western nations were responsible for global warming
as rapid industrialisation was taking place there. Action
should be taken against them, he demanded.

The delegation consisted of nearly 150 MPs. NDA's acting
convener Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and MPs from
Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and other partners were part of
the delegation. PTI RC