Advani targets government's policy on terror

Bhubaneshwar, Apr 1 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani on Wednesday targeted Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for his statement about the need for India and Pakistan fighting militancy jointly.

Dr. Singh on Tuesday said that India and Pakistan should jointly face the scourge of terrorism.

Addressing a news conference here, Advani termed the Central Government's policy on terrorism was "deeply flawed".

"It's obvious from the Prime Minister's statement that the UPA Government's policy of fighting terrorism has been deeply flawed. The fact that Pakistan has been the victim of home-grown terrorist incidents cannot be an argument in favour of an Indo-Pak joint mechanism to fight terrorism," he said.

Advani, who is on a two-day election campaign tour to Orissa, questioned the logic of India joining hands with Pakistan in the fight against militancy in the backdrop of Islamabad refusing to fulfill its commitments.

"I personally question the rationale of India joining hands with a country whose government has refused to fulfill its 2004 commitment to dismantle the anti-India terror infrastructure on its territory," Advani added.

The attacks on Mumbai sparked tensions between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi said state agencies in Pakistan were involved in the attacks and provided a dossier of what it said was evidence.

Islamabad denied this and asked for more evidence. (ANI)