NSA-level talks will be "dialogue of deaf": Yashwant Sinha

New Delhi, Aug 19: Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha today claimed the proposed National Security Advisor-level talks between India and Pakistan will be a "dialogue of the deaf" and that BJP has "deviated" from its stated policy regarding talks with Pakistan.

He said "this has been a clearly stated policy of BJP that we will not countenance terror and as terror and talks do not go together. Therefore, in the 10 years rule of UPA, we had criticised Manmohan Singh personally and the UPA government for departing from BJP's position."

Sinha said there has been an increase in terror... not only the incident in Udhampur and Gurdaspur there has been a spate of terror attacks and even today there have been terror attacks in which policemen have been killed. Sinha, an External Affairs Minister in Vajpayee cabinet, said that "based on the experience of dealing with Pakistan during the six years of Vajpaye rule, we came to the conclusion that terror and talks cannot go together."

"The point I am making it when we decided that there will be a meeting between Nawab Sharif and our Prime Minister at Ufa and that was to be followed by talks at the NSA-level.... earlier our Foreign Secretary had visited Islamabad to do the spadework. Clearly, we have departed from the stated policy of BJP regarding dialogue with Pakistan," Sinha told NDTV.

When pointed out that Pakistan accentuates the crisis and has a ready explanation, Sinha said they tried to disown 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Amir Ajmal Kasab also till proof was found. "Their script is an old script. Everyone in India should know and does know about it. For every argument, they will have a counter argument," he said.

"You say you (Pakistan) are promoting terrorism against India, they will say you are promoting terrorism against Pakistan. You will say you committed 26/11 and then they will point to Samjhauta Express blast.

For every dossier, they will have a counter dossier. "Therfore, these talks at the NSA level will be a dialogue of the deaf. There will be no outcome we will be exactly where we are before the talks."

PTI