Indo-Pak Joint Statement: NDA tells Prez to give correct advice to UPA

An NDA delegation today met President Pratibha Patil and asked her to "intervene" and give "correct advice" to the 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 (JD-U) and MPs from Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and other partners were part of the delegation.