China incursion can turn into Kargil-like situation: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday cautioned that the Chinese incursions into Indian territory in Ladakh could snowball into a "Kargil-like" situation and urged the government to take the issue seriously instead of treating it as merely a local issue.

"The prime minister has said the incursions in Ladakh are a localised issue. To say so is wrong. After all, what had happened in Kargil," BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters.

Incidentally, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was in power when the Kargil conflict took place in 1999. The then government was taken by surprise when the incursions from Pakistan were detected.

Naqvi said India should give up its "confused and contradictory" policy towards China and take some serious measures.

"This is not an acne but a serious problem," he said, referring to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's take on the incursions.

Asked if Khurshid should go ahead with his scheduled visit to China, Naqvi said, "He should definitely not go to China till this issue is resolved."

Chinese troops are reported to have entered up to 19 km within Indian territory in Ladakh region.

BJP also expressed concern over attack on death row convict Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail and dubbed it as a "pre-planned conspiracy".

"The Pakistan government, Inter Services Intelligence and terrorists were involved in a pre-planned attack under a pre-planned conspiracy. The government was given prior information about the likely occurrence of such an attack but despite this, no step was taken," Naqvi said.

BJP demanded that Sarabjit should be brought to India and provided the best treatment.

"The Indian government has a very casual attitude about this issue," Naqvi said.

He said that due to the present foreign policy of India, "Our neighbours like Maldives, Pakistan and China have started intimidating us".