Govt,party plan joint statement on Indo-Pak

Singh is said to have underlined that dialogue was the only way forward. And that India had conceded no ground by agreeing to include a reference to “threats in Balochistan” or by saying that dialogue should not be bracketed with action on terror.

The meeting,held at the Prime Minister’s residence,was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi,Defence Minister A K Antony,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,Home Minister P Chidambaram and political secretary to Gandhi,Ahmed Patel.

It was decided that the Prime Minister would explain the import of the statement in his intervention in the Lok Sabha on July 29. The next day,Congress president Sonia Gandhi would announce the party’s unequivocal backing to the government at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting.

This decision comes after Congress spokespersons have been cautious in their reaction,their refrain being: “there is nothing to add to the joint statement.”

The core group is also learnt to have discussed the strategy to counter the Opposition’s campaign against this issue. NDA leaders have sought an appointment with President Pratibha Patil to submit a joint memorandum seeking her intervention to “course correct” the UPA’s foreign policy initiatives.

These include “de-bracketing of terrorism from

the composite dialogue process and reference of Balochistan” in the Indo-Pak statement and the Indo-US End-User Monitoring Agreement. They

are expected to meet her next week.

“We have sought an appointment with the President. But we will make our announcements only after everything is decided,”

Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told The Indian Express.

NDA leaders are learnt to be making overtures to other political parties,including the Left,to seek their support and signatures on the memorandum. They plan to get 250 MPs to sign,said sources.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav got in touch with the Left seeking the latter’s support on this issue. The Left,however,refused to go along with the BJP and,instead,decided to explore the possibility of bringing together constituents of the erstwhile Third Front and seek a “separate appointment” with the President to protest against the End-Use Monitoring Agreement.

“Sharad Yadav came to me with the proposal to go along with the NDA to meet the President. We are not associating with them. BJP’s demand is that there should be no dialogue with Pakistan. But our views are different. We want the dialogue to continue and at the same time want action against perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks. We want continued pressure on Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism,” CPM’s Basudeb Acharia said. “We will talk to parties like TDP,AIADMK,BJD and,possibly,the SP to come together to meet the President on the issue of End Use Monitoring Agreement.”