Havana agreement against India's interests: Joshi

Raipur, Sep 23: Senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi today said the agreement reached between India and Pakistan at Havana was not in the larger interests of the country as it had put terror victim and abettor of terrorism on the same footing.

Addressing a press conference here, he said it was the strong perception of people that Pakistan was aiding and abetting terrorism for over two decades.

Mr Joshi said the Secretary-level talks with the neighbouring country were stalled after the Mumbai blasts. ''But what happened between Mumbai blasts and Havana meet so that we agreed for resuming talks and even jointly setting up an anti-terror mechanism with Pakistan'', he asked.

The BJP veteran said he felt that the agreement had given Pakistan an opportunity to tell the entire world that it was not a ''rouge state''. He said the agreement would also have its fallout on Kashmir issue as Pakistan could even demand for joint control of Kashmir.

Replying to a question, Mr Joshi said the agreement had raised questions on the political and diplomatic abilities of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He said the BJP would raise the issue during the forthcoming session of Parliament and press for not implementing it.

UNI