BJP targets Antony over LoC statement

Gunning for Defence Minister A K Antony, BJP today escalated the stand-off over his statement on the killing of five soldiers on the LoC and paralysed Parliament, demanding his apology for giving a "clean chit" to Pakistan Army.
Antony, who maintained that he had to be "very careful" when he makes a statement in Parliament, was today forced to give an assurance that he will come back to the House after Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh concludes his visit to Jammu.
NDA Parliamentary Party chief L K Advani, who demanded an apology from Antony, led a party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and made it clear that they will not relent on their position when Parliament meets tomorrow.

At the meeting, the government gave an assurance that Antony will make a statement tomorrow clarifying the position. Antony was present at the meeting.
The BJP leaders, who included party chief Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, also told the Prime Minister that he should not meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York next month in the current situation.
Earlier, BJP members created ruckus in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, forcing their repeated adjournments before they closed for the day at 3 PM without transacting any substantive business.

Antony, who has been under fire since yesterday for saying that "terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform", said, "when as Defence Minister I make a statement before the Parliament on such a matter, I have to be very careful, I have to verify all the facts in detail. That is why I made a statement like that."

He noted that the Army Chief was in Jammu today and said "Let him come back. If they get some other details, I will come back to you."
He asserted that there will be no compromise on defence and protection of integrity of the country.

BJP members, however, continued to target him and demanded apology from him for giving an "escape route" to Pakistan to deny involvement of its army in the incident.