'Peace talks futile till it breeds terrorism'

Bangalore, Jul 16: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today opined that any peace talks with Pakistan will only be 'futile' as long as the neighbouring country maintains terrorism as an instrument of its State policy.

Addressing newspersons here, he said Pakistan continued to employ the concept of terrorism as an instrument of its State policy and India could not accept the thesis of Pakistan using terrorism as pre-negotiation tactics.

Criticising the UPA Government at the Centre for having no clear-cut policy in negotiating with Pakistan for bringing normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP leader said the Government faced ''emptiness of policy'' in dealing with Pakistan. Besides, it had no policy to deal with the situation prevailing in neighbouring countries, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Urging the UPA Government to adopt an independent policy in its fight against terrorism, Mr Singh said ''there is a need to draw out our own strategy to battle against Pakistan supported terrorism activities.'' He criticised the United States for adopting double standards in fighting against terrorism and asked the US not to differentiate between terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and those in other parts of the world.

BJP Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who was also present, criticised the Congress for having no political will to fight terrorism as it was pursuing vote bank politics.

Demanding that the UPA Government create a strong international opinion against Pakistan, he urged the Centre to re-introduce POTA or an alternative to it to contain subversive and terrorist activities in the country. ''A special law was needed to deal with a special situation,'' he added.

UNI

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