NEW DELHI: : Bharatiya Janata Party leader in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh has criticised the Government's handling of the peace process with Pakistan on several counts, and expressed dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response to a letter written by the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to him on June 15.

"What does the Government mean by an `open border' with Pakistan? ... What benefit has accrued to India [from the peace process with Pakistan] during the one year [of the Manmohan Singh Government]? ... What has the Government done about Pakistan's violation of agreement with India [by allowing the Hurriyat leaders to travel to Islamabad on travel documents meant only for travel to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]?" These were some of the questions that Mr. Jaswant Singh raised at a press conference on Tuesday where he released the Prime Minister's letter to Mr. Vajpayee.

Mr. Jaswant Singh made it clear that "the BJP initiated the peace process and continued to remain committed to lasting and convincing peace with Pakistan." He pointed out that "peace was not just an alternative but an objective that should be pursued diligently without losing sight of the national interests and national objectives."

He said the Manmohan Singh Government had allowed the dialogue to become "Kashmir-centric"; that the Hurriyat had begun conducting itself as if "it had a veto on the peace process" as "also on the relationship between other organisations in Jammu and Kashmir and the Government of India."

He praised the direction of policy and the handling of the Pakistan issue during the six years of the National Democratic Alliance, but when asked about the Lahore bus diplomacy and the Kargil episode, he said: "Despite those events, we continued to have faith in the peace process."

Mr. Singh said the BJP was suspicious of the Government's intentions vis-à-vis Siachen and the Baglihar issue. "Why did a previous [Congress] Government send troops to Siachen and what did he [Prime Minister] mean when he said Siachen should become a pinnacle of peace?"

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