Manmohan shouldn't hold talks with Sharif in US: BJP

In the wake of killing of five Indian jawans at the LoC on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party has suggested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not hold bilateral talks with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif during his forthcoming visit to the United States for United Nations General Assembly meeting.

Strongly condemning the attack at the LoC, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters that "there should be no talks with Pakistan until they keep the assurance given to Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 6, 2004. There should be no talks at any level, especially at the level of the prime minister."

He underlined that Singh should not hold talks with Sharif during his forthcoming visit to the US for the United Nations General Assembly meeting. India and Pakistan had signed an accord in January 2004 in which the latter promised not to allow its soil to be used for terror activities against India.

"We have been confused about talks and war. There is a huge space between talks and war," Sinha said, adding this space has not been used by Indian government. Referring to Defence Minister A K Antony's statement in Parliament today, the BJP said it is a matter of concern that there has been an 80 per cent increase in infiltration across

LoC and there were 57 ceasefire violations in the last six months alone. The BJP said government should order Indian forces to retaliate when such attacks take place in future. "There is nothing worse than tying their hands and making them take bullets," Sinha said.

"Pakistan has been openly flouting the ceasefire agreement and now even the fig leaf has gone. Why does the Indian government not take this up with Pakistan through diplomatic channels?" Sinha said.

He maintained that instead of the government calling Pakistan's deputy high commissioner to register its protest against the killing of five India soldiers, the Pakistan high commissioner should have been asked to present himself before the Indian foreign secretary.