Pak. must drop 'jehadi' mentality, says BJP

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JULY 28. The Bharatiya Janata Party today said there could be ``no meaningful dialogue with Pakistan'' as long as the ``jehadi mentality'' dominated Pakistan's establishment even as the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, blamed the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for speaking like a ``fauji'' (armyman) who had ``not come to make peace''.

The party said that as Pakistan continued to adopt a ``negative posture'' the Government should draw ``appropriate conclusions.'' and ``plan for the future accordingly''.

Adopting a three-page resolution on the Agra summit, the party left no one in doubt that there could be ``no compromise'' on ``cross-border terrorism'' and ``religious extremism,'' points stressed by Mr. Vajpayee and the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, who were both present during the discussions. The party spokesperson, Mr. Sunil Shastri, later made it clear that the BJP was ``not in favour of engaging Pakistan unless it agreed to address India's major concern, terrorism, as a key issue.''

The discussion on the summit and its aftermath was wrapped up at the party's national executive committee meeting here by early afternoon, but Mr. Vajpayee devoted his evening address to members entirely to the summit and its aftermath.

He categorically said India had learnt a lot from the summit. ``We met and understood the new Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf,'' and this would help ``in any future strategy related to India-Pakistan relations,'' he said.

The discussions at Agra were ``frank'' and when the General repeatedly emphasised Kashmir as the core issue, ``on the very first day it seemed the summit would not work,'' Mr. Vajpayee said.

The party general secretary, Mr. Narendra Modi, who later briefed reporters on Mr. Vajpayee's address said the Prime Minister found Gen. Musharraf to be ``task-oriented'' repeatedly bringing up Kashmir as the core issue. Mr. Vajpayee then reminded him that the ``core of that core issue'' was in the 1947 October attack on Kashmir after which Pakistan continued to ``occupy'' one-third of the State.

The Prime Minister also said it had become clear at Agra that Gen. Musharraf ``did not want to go back empty-handed'' and as far as India was concerned, the summit had sent a strong message: continued terrorist activities would not be tolerated and India had the will and the means to deal with the problem.

``Peace was not a `majboori' (compulsion)'' for India but a ``commitment'' as it was ``necessary for fighting poverty in both the countries.''

There was no doubt at all that the party fully backed the Prime Minister's peace initiative even as it recorded the violation of diplomatic norms by the presidential guest, and his discourtesy in converting an informal breakfast meeting with editors into a ``media spectacle'' where he made statements ``unacceptable to his Indian hosts''. Laying the blame on Gen. Musharraf for the failure of the summit, the party resolution said, ``he poured cold water on any prospects of a positive outcome by his injudicious utterances.''

The party concluded that the General had come here ``not to make peace but to address his domestic constituency''. As for the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people, they had enjoyed democratic freedoms which their counterparts in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir were denied for 50 years, it added.

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