JOIN USAttempting to delink former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s stand at Sharm-el-Sheikh with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest articulation on PoK, Balochistan and Gilgit, the BJP attacked the Congress for speaking in different voices on Pakistan-supported terrorism.
The BJP’s criticism of the Congress was in reaction to a statement made by former UPA minister Salman Khurshid who had criticised Modi for his PoK barb. “The divisions in the Congress and among its leaders were even visible over the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement. They are divided over the issues concerning national security,” BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said at a press conference.
Singh, who also stated that the Kashmir problem cannot be compared with Balochistan, said Modi through his address to the nation on Independence Day wanted to expose human rights violations in these regions of Pakistan.
Manmohan Singh had accepted Pakistan’s accusation of India interfering in Balochistan on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt. In 2009, Singh had met the then Pakistan prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and had come up with a joint statement that also had a mention of Balochistan, which was severly criticised by the BJP which was in the Opposition.
Singh had said, “ The Kashmir problem cannot be compared with Balochistan unrest. In Kashmir, the problem is due to cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan. On the contrary, unrest in Balochistan is due to atrocities committed by Pakistan to stem locals’ unfulfilled demands.”