Make Parliamentary approval mandatory for foreign treaties: Advani

New Delhi, Aug 30 (UNI) Senior BJP leader L K Advani today urged the Government to come out with a constitutional amendment making it mandatory for the Government to seek parliamentary approval before signing any agreement or treaty with foreign governments involving the country's security, sovereignty and integrity.

Addressing the Parliamentary Party meeting of the BJP, Mr Advani said if the Government will not come out with an amendment, the BJP and the NDA would come out with such an amendment whenever they are voted back to power in future elections.

Under the constitution, there is no check on the Government to seek parliamentary approval for undertaking any treaty with any foreign power including the 123 Agreement covering the Indo-US nuclear deal.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokespersons Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Sushma Swaraj said Mr Advani had reiterated that the BJP would press for constituting a mechanism to resolve the differences between the Congress and Left parties on the nuclear deal.

''If there is a mechanism within the UPA it was an internal affair, but if it involved the Government and Parliament, than it should involve all political parties and a joint parliamentary committee was the best solution.'' ''It is not an internal matter concerning the 'family' or two parties but matters concerning the nation and its security,'' Mr Advani remarked.

Both Mrs Swaraj and Mr Malhotra denied that Mr Advani was asking the Government to renegotiate the 123 Agreement with the United States on the basis of amended Atomic Energy Act, 1962.

''India should be governed by its own laws and not by the US law.

This was the BJP line as well as that of Mr Advani right from the begining and there is no change of stand,'' they maintained.

They said it was true that India during the NDA rule had unilaterally declared a moratorium on 'no first use' of nuclear armament. But such decisions cannot be dictated by a foreign power, they said.

UNI