Expressing disapproval of India's decision to resume dialogue with Pakistan, the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged on Thursday that was in violation of the assurance given by the Prime Minister and fruitful talks can be held with the neighbouring country only after it stops supporting terror.
"The BJP disapproves of this premature dialogue with Pakistan at the level of Foreign Secretaries. This real stumbling block
between India and Pakistan is the wall of terror and Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of reneging on his promise to the main opposition that no dialogue would be
held with Pakistan until it stopped supporting terrorism. "After the 26/11 attacks, the PM had assured the country inside and outside Parliament that there would be no dialogue with Pakistan till all the terror infrastructure in that country was demolished. Why this sudden change?" Prasad asked.
He said Manmohan Singh had given the same assurance to senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. "A week ago, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that Pakistan was not taking any action though India had given ample evidence against Hafiz Saeed and others," he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP asked how could talks be held in such a scenario. Hinting at international pressure to begin dialogue,
Prasad said, "BJP suspects there is some pressure from somewhere."
India proposes foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan