NEW DELHI: Citing the police disclosures of Pakistan link with the Mumbai train blasts, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday ridiculed the proposal for setting up a joint mechanism with that country to monitor terrorism.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the joint statement with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana earlier this month, he would have known that the Mumbai police investigation into the serial blasts on local trains in July was pointing to a strong Pakistani link. Still Dr. Singh agreed to the setting up of the joint mechanism, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley alleged here.

Charging the United Progressive Alliance Government and specifically the Prime Minister with giving a "clean chit" to General Musharraf, the BJP leader said this episode was one more proof that the Congress was "soft on terror."

Mr. Jaitley said this, seen together with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's clemency plea for Mohammad Afzal Guru, against whom a death warrant had been signed for his role in the 2001 Parliament terror attack case, showed that the Congress was even "sympathetic to terrorists."

Evidence

Congratulating the Mumbai police, he said they seemed to have evidence to establish that the 7/11 conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan, that the terrorists were trained in Bhawalpur in that country and they, armed with RDX, came to India and carried out the attack.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence used the Lashkar-e-Taiba for carrying out the attack, he said.

The police knew in July itself the names of some Pakistani terrorists involved in the blasts and the Prime Minister would certainly have been briefed on this information. In spite of this, Dr. Singh issued a joint statement in Havana declaring Pakistan also a "victim" of terrorism and agreed to the joint mechanism.

As for Pakistan cooperating in investigations into the blasts, its Foreign Minister had already rejected the charges made by the Mumbai police, Mr. Jaitley pointed out.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail