The Hindu : National : Our stand on Kashmir issue unequivocal, claims Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 20, 2004

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National

Our stand on Kashmir issue unequivocal, claims Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 19. The Congress today sought to juxtapose the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's visit to Jammu and Kashmir providing a fresh impetus to the peace process in the State, to the "epistolary melodrama being played" in the Bharatiya Janata Party, to bring out the contrast in approach.

"The nation has a stark contrast between sublime and ridiculous, between constructive and comic and between sincere and hypocritical," the party spokesperson, Abhishek Singhvi, said in an attempt to outline the difference between the party heading the coalition government and the principal party in Opposition.

The Congress said that in place of the "flip-flop-flip" of the previous regime on peace process between India and Pakistan, the United Progressive Alliance Government has taken a clear and unequivocal stand with the Prime Minister showing the way forward giving space for dialogue and in a spirit of give and take instead of the official sulk of earlier years.

Commenting on the visit, he said the Government announced a big economic programme that has been moulded and shaped by schemes that would have lasting infrastructure impact and real and economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir, instead of an ad hoc announcement, which at times smacked of charity.

He said there was also a forthright assertion on Indian stand on territorial integration and ethnic and religious diversion coupled with open and unconditional dialogue with those who abjure violence.

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