BJP flays talks between Hurriyat leaders, Pak Foreign Secretary

Terming as 'unfortunate' the talks between the separatist Hurriyat leaders and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani ahead of bilateral parleys, the BJP today asked the Centre to lodge an official protest with Islamabad.

"It is a matter of grave concern that the visiting Pakistan Foreign Secretary holds talks with the separatist Hurriyat leaders at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi yesterday ahead of the bilateral talks with India," BJP national Spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said at a symposium.

Jilani met the Hurriyat leaders despite knowing their 'anti-India' stand, he said and urged the Centre to lodge an official protest with Islamabad in this regard.

On the report by a team of interlocutors headed by journalist Dilip Padgaonkar which recommended steps for empowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Prasad said that there were several "shortcomings in the report amounting to giving encouragement to separatist forces."

If an attempt was to be made to break away Jammu and Kashmir in the garb of the interlocutors' report, then the BJP will oppose it forcefully, Prasad said and asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to clarify whether the government was inclined to accept the Padgaonkar committee report.

He, however, said that the BJP favoured measures like decentralization of the gram panchayats and financial measures for development of Jammu and Kashmir without discrimination to Jammu, Ladakh and Kargil.

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