Advani trains guns on Pakistan over terrorism and Kashmir

Less than a year after his praise for Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah kicked up a row in the Sangh Parivar, BJP stalwart and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani trained his guns on Pakistan and termed it as an “epicenter of terrorist activities”.

Addressing a public meeting organized by the BJP at Bangalore on Sunday, Advani came down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for agreeing to launch a joint operation with Pakistan against terrorism.

He likened the joint operation against terrorism by the two countries to an “investigation into the Mumbai blasts of 1993 by Maharashtra police and Dawood Ibrahim, the alleged mastermind behind the explosions”.

He sought to recall that the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government had rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s “adamant” stand that “what was happening in Jammu and Kashmir was a freedom struggle”. The NDA had put off the idea of issuing a joint statement with Pakistan in view of Musharraf’s “obstinate” stand, he said.

Advani also laid the blame for the plight of Muslims in the country squarely at the doorstep of Congress party. “Muslim community is relatively poor, mostly illiterate, has lower access to education and lower representation in public and private sector as the Congress party, which ruled India for more than 40 years, kept the community in the dark all these years”, he said.

He appealed to the Muslim community to build more educational institutions and adopt a progressive line of thought. “To be recognized in the mainstream, Muslims should adhere to modern system of education instead of traditional madrassas”, Advani said.

Advani also opposed the proposal to introduce religion-based reservation in the country. He said the BJP would continue to oppose the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) move to introduce reservation to Muslims on the basis of religion at the behest of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

“The BJP will not compromise on the issue. We will resist any move by the Government to introduce reservation to Muslims tooth and nail”, he said.

On the issue of clemency for Afzal Guru, who has convicted for masterminding the terrorist attack on the Parliament House in 2001, Advani called upon people to send letters, telegrams and e-mails to the Prime Minister to thwart Presidential pardon for him.

“By defending Afzal, Advani said the Congress politicians were nullifying the supreme sacrifices made by over a dozen security personnel on December 13, 2001, at the Parliament House.