BJP asks govt to clarify its stand on Indo-Pak joint statement

BJP today tried to put the government on the back foot once again over the Indo-Pak joint statement asking it to clarify its stand on the issue in wake of prime minister Manmohan Singh's comments on possible terror strikes by Pakistan.

"Yesterday at the chief minister's conference, the prime minister said that Pakistani terrorists may strike again."

"What is their stand now on the joint statement that Manmohan Singh made with the Pakistani prime minister where he talked about delinking of action against terror from the composite dialogue," BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

Claiming that the government seems to toeing the line of "Pakistan may strike again, we may talk again", Naidu said "does the statement mean anything now? Is the government willing to accept that it had committed a mistake. We now want to know about Government's response on the issue."

Accusing the UPA government of politicising the national security issues, he said, "When the government could accept Maharashtra's MCOCA (anti-terror act), what is the problem with GUJCO (Gujarat's proposed anti-terror law) except that Maharashtra has a Congress government and Gujarat is a BJP-ruled state."

On the alleged corruption charges against Assam governor Syed Sibtey Razi, Naidu said, "Razi should immediately step down and the prime minister should take steps to see that he resigns immediately."