Rajnath urges Centre not to move ahead with CBMs

New Delhi, Sept 25: Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh today urged the Centre not to go ahead with the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) with Pakistan unless it stopped ''encouraging terrorism'' against India.

Talking to newspersons, Mr Singh debunked the claims made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in his book ''In the Line of Fire: A Memoir'', that the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was aware of the army plan in Kargil before he hosted his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the Lahore bus yatra in March 1999.

''The whole world knows who fought the Kargil conflict and nobody will take his words on the face value,'' Mr Singh remarked.

He also found fault with the way the Indian Government dealt with the issue of terrorism. ''It is not getting the due weightage it deserves at the hands of the UPA coalition,'' he said.

Stating that Kargil was a victory for India and a defeat for Pakistan, the BJP President said the Pakistan General should not be believed at all unless he takes steps to end cross-border terrorism. At least Gen Musharraf has no right to speak on Kargil, he said.

He said former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott had openly accepted that India had earned world recognition as a responsible and reliable country after it reclaimed lost territories in Kargil and the Pokhran II tests.

He alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, by conceding that Pakistan is also a victim of terror and recognising the existance of an autonomous group, had hurt India's views on cross-border terrorism and termed Dr Singh's stance a ''sell-out''.

UNI

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