The Hindu : Venkaiah Naidu blames Pak. for failure of peace process

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 04, 2003

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Venkaiah Naidu blames Pak. for failure of peace process

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 3. The Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, has criticised the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, for blaming his party for blocking normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.

Accusing Mr. Jamali of interfering in the internal affairs of the country, Mr. Naidu said the "allegation was completely baseless and false" and in turn blamed Pakistan for the failure of the peace process. "The blame rests with them. The reason lies in Pakistan's refusal to dismantle the infrastructure of cross-border terrorism."

In a statement, Mr. Naidu said Pakistan could not pretend before the international community that it was interested in normalising relations, and at the same time, continue to sponsor the campaign of terrorist killings in India.

He sought to remind the Pakistan Prime Minister that the offer for talks had come from the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and therefore it was not correct to blame the BJP for creating problems.

On Wednesday, Mr. Jamali had accused the BJP of " blocking the normalisation of relations, with a view to achieving better results in the next Lok Sabha elections".

Taking exception to the charge that the BJP had made a "good show" in the Gujarat Assembly elections " in the wake of the massacre of innocent Muslims", Mr. Naidu accused Mr. Jamali of trying to incite communal sentiments in the country. "Those who have no democracy, who practise theocracy, and have wiped out their minorities, have no right to comment on a democratically elected government in an Indian State," he said.

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