Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing growing pressure to take a tough stand against Pakistan for rising incidents of terrorist violence in India.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing growing pressure to take a tough stand against Pakistan for rising incidents of terrorist violence in India.
Sources in the Congress said the leadership is disappointed with Singh’s tame address to the nation on Wednesday, in which he did not mention Pakistan. Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma was equally cautious in a televised statement on Thursday. The issue may be raised at the core committee’s weekly meeting, which gives Sonia Gandhi and the PM a chance to exchange views.
The meeting was scheduled to take place today but may have to be postponed by a day because of the PM’s visit to Mumbai.
Though the BJP has so far shied away from demanding that the Indo-Pak dialogue be called off, it may yet do so. A senior BJP source said there is no reason to continue the dialogue when Pakistan has violated its January 6, 2004, commitment to crack down on terrorist groups operating from it soil.
Even the Left is mystified by the PM’s kid-gloves approach. While neither the Congress nor the Left is advocating a halt to the peace process, both feel that India must send a stern warning to Pakistan that no dialogue can continue in an atmosphere of terror.
Security agencies too are pressing for a tough stand. An official source said there are enough intelligence inputs confirming increased activity by Pakistan-sponsored groups. Many of those arrested in connection with recent terrorist strikes, starting with the October 2005 blasts in Delhi, have confessed to Pakistani links.
The police have recovered Pakistani passports from some of the suspects and also tracked phone calls to Pakistan from their mobile phone records. The Pakistan link in the Mumbai blasts is yet to be established but security agencies have no doubt that it exists and will be proved soon.
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