Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday asked the government to explain if India was planning to talk to the Taliban, as suggested by some media reports, and warned against any compromise with anti-India elements.
“If true, as the report suggests, the shift in India’s Afghan policy must be explained to the people and the foreign minister must answer the raison d’être of showing a willingness to have a dialogue with the regressive elements,” said Tarun Vijay, BJP spokesperson.

These elements, Vijay pointed out, have been working for Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and their anti-India operations “have bled us for the last two years”.

Vijay was alluding to media reports which quoted government sources saying that India wanted to reach out to Taliban leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami and keep its doors open in case of a reconciliation effort by the Taliban.

Warning against the pitfalls of such a dialogue with “blood thirsty elements”, Vijay stressed: “Talking to Taliban reverses all that India has stood for so far.”

“They are Osama’s men, they push their women behind veils and stop them from going to schools, their world is a world of darkness, far removed from that of democracy and pluralism, bringing the society to medieval ages.”

“Indian strategy, if there exists one for Afghanistan and Pakistan must be primarily to safeguard Indian interests and to ensure annihilation of anti-Indian terror groups,” he said.

Accusing the government of failure in getting access to David Coleman Headley, an American-Pakistani accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks, and pursuing a “meaningless dialogue” with Pakistan under US pressure, Vijay contended that “engaging the Taliban comes as another shocking feature of UPA’s unending compromises with the anti-India elements”.

India has refused to recognise any distinction between the good and bad Taliban, but has indicated that it could support reintegration of the Taliban in the Afghan mainstream provided they agree to renounce violence and abide by the Afghan constitution.

The Indian government is, however, opposed to any reconciliation with the Taliban to bring them into the political structure. India had agreed to go along with the reintegration proposal endorsed at the Jan 28 London conference, but is wary of any deal that could reinstall a medieval and anti-New Delhi regime in Kabul.