Time to respond decisively to Pakistan shelling: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said the time has come for India to respond decisively to Pakistan's ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference here, the party's national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: "For the past two months, whatever Pakistan has been doing on the Line of Control and the International Border is unacceptable. In two months, there have been 200 violations by Pakistan.

"Time has come when we should give a befitting reply to Pakistan. There are also political ways and means to restrain Pakistan from doing this."

Javadekar said that when Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah were visiting the International Border (Oct 22), Pakistan was still raining shells there.

"They have killed and injured our jawans. This is not tolerable.

"Pakistan's politics is Kashmir-centric while according to us the only issue that needs to be resolved is stopping Pakistan-aided terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan gives covering fire to encourage infiltration. Our soldiers were beheaded and ambushed... there was a terror attack in Samba. These are absolutely unacceptable.

"Terrorism and talks cannot go together," he said.

Replying to a question on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's Oct 24 remark at an Indore rally that, singed by the riots in Muzaffarnagar of Uttar Pradesh, many Muslim youths were in touch with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Javadekar said: "For campaigning he is free, but he is not free to insult Muslims."

"When he said those who started and helped clashes in Muzaffarnagar had links with ISI and would like to go to Pakistan, it is an insult to Indian Muslims.

"Indian Muslims have made a deliberate and conscious decision to be part of India. They have no sympathy for Pakistan," he said.

Replying to another question on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that he is ready to go to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) if they wanted (to question him in the coal block allocation case), Javadekar said: "The CBI is under the administrative control of the PMO."

"This is another way of getting a clean chit from the CBI as it was given to Lalu Prasad and Mayawati (ex-chief ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, respectively).

"It was not the government, but our complaint which the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) forwarded to the CBI that started the coalgate investigations.

"Seventeen billion tonnes of coal were given to 140 private companies causing a loss of Rs.50 lakh crore to the people of the country," Javadekar said.