Going to UN over Kashmir was a mistake: Advani

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday criticised the Jawaharlal Nehru government for approaching the United Nations over the Kashmir issue in 1947.

"There would have been no Pakistan-occupied Kashmir if we had not approached the United Nations in 1947 after Pakistani aggression. Due to this move, a ceasefire had to be enforced when our troops were pushing back Pakistani troops, leading to the creation of the Line of Control," Advani said in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

Subsequently, a major opportunity to settle the Kashmir problem was lost in 1971 when 93,000 Pakistani soldiers were taken prisoners by the Indian troops in a "great victory", said Advani, who was in Hazaribagh to launch 10 developmental projects worth about Rs 100 crore.

When the then Pakistan prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, "came here [India] to take back the soldiers, he should have been told [by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi] to give in writing that Kashmir is an integral part of India and his country has no claim on it", he said.

Advani said Pakistan, after failing "miserably" to annex Kashmir through open wars, had resorted to proxy war as per a plan devised by former military ruler Zia-ul Haq.

"As per the plan, ISI started setting up its bases in India, lured Kashmiri youth and trained them," he said, adding the process continued for 20 years.

But

Pointing out that the National Democratic Alliance government had resolved to eliminate the proxy war, Advani said work was on to dig out and neutralise ISI bases in the country and 161 such "dens" had been eliminated.

"This could have been done earlier but the previous governments did not do it," he said.

He said when the NDA government came to power in 1998, there was apprehension in the world "following a propaganda by Congress" that BJP believed in war.

"But this has been belied as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made sincere attempts to establish peace with Pakistan," first by going to Lahore by bus and then by inviting Pervez Musharraf to Agra for talks, he said.