New Delhi, Oct.10 (ANI): In an open letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition L K Advani has asked him to “unequivocally reiterate India’’s position” on the status of Jammu and Kashmir in view of the “conflicting remarks” emerging from Pakistan.
Reminding Singh of India’’s position on the issue as articulated in the unanimous resolution passed in the Parliament on February 22, 1994 which declared that “the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India and any attempt to separate it from the rest of the country will be resisted by all necessary means.”
He said that the resolution further demanded that “Pakistan must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir which they have occupied through aggression.”
The BJP leader said that this resolution encapsulates India’’s position on the status of Jammu and Kashmir and is sacrosanct.
“India has consistently maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the question of self-determination does not arise,” he stated in the letter.
He added that he was happy to read the statement made by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari describing the militants in Jammu and Kashmir as “terrorists” and that “India has never been a threat to Pakistan.”
However, subsequently Pakistan’’s Information Minister Sherry Rehman stating that “the President of Pakistan has made it very clear that the just cause of Kashmir and its struggle for self determination has been a consistent central position of the PPP for the last forty years.”
No change in that policy makes Pakistan’’s position conflicting, he added.
Advani also charged the UPA regime of leading the country to the path of “self deception.”
Speaking at a book release function at his residence, Advani said: “It is unfortunate that in the present times the government has replaced the attitude of positive re-construction and re-orientation with self deception.”
Referring to the influx of Bangladeshi migrants in the eastern states of the country and government’’s response to the violence against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, Advani alleged that the “eye for the vote-bank” is the prime reason for “government to lead the country to self deception.”
“Even the Supreme Court had been critical of the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants and the government’’s dealing with the issue. I would rather say that the union government is failing in its duty under article 355 to protect the states from external aggression and internal disturbances,” he said.
“Democracy exists here because theocracy is alien to our tradition. Hindu polity cannot and can never accept theocracy,” Advani said. (ANI)