Pakistan be declared terrorist state: Rajnath

Varanasi, Oct 24 (UNI) Demanding that Pakistan be declared a ''terrorist state'', BJP President Rajnath Singh today asked the UPA government to break diplomatic ties with Islamabad if it failed to end fostering terrorism in India within a month.

''There is no need to prove the Pakistani hand in growing terrorism in the country. The Centre, instead of talking for an Indo-Pak anti-terror mechanism, should work internationally to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state,'' Mr Singh said while addressing an election rally here this evening.

''The Centre needs to go step-wise to internationally counter Pak sponsored terrorism on Indian soil. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to immediately summon Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi and ask the Pakistani government to stop abetting terrorism on Indian soil in a month time. On Pakistani's failure to fulfill Indian demand within the one month deadline, the UPA government should break all diplomatic ties with Pakistan,'' Mr Singh demanded.

Alleging the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI of working with the maoists extremists to destabilise India, Mr Singh said, ''The ISI is no longer active in Jammu and Kashmir only, but is working in tandem with maoists extremists to wreak havoc in all corners of the country.'' The former union minister asked the Centre to accelerate efforts on the international forum, especially at the United Nations to bring the ISI under ''international security watch.'' Accusing the UPA government of going soft on countering terrorism, Mr Singh recounted that in a public meeting in Gujarat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had categorically stated that continuing the peace process with Pakistan was impossible if the latter did not stop fostering terrorism in India.

However, the Prime Minister did a summersault in Havana a month later saying that both India and Pakistan were equally affected by terrorism and needed to fight it jointly.

''How can the country be assured of its security under a government which resorts to double-speak on fighting terrorism,'' he added.

The BJP president further demanded that a law akin to POTA be put in place immediately to deal with terrorists.

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