Stop dialogue with Pak on Sir Creek, says Narendra Modi, Chidambaram heaps ridicule

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today asked the Prime Minister to stop dialogue with Pakistan at once on the Sir Creek issue and demanded that it should not be handed over to the neighbouring nation.

"I am writing on a serious issue of talks being held on Sir Creek being handed over to Pakistan.

Any attempt to hand over Sir Creek to Pakistan would be a strategic blunder considering the history and sensitivity of the region," Modi has written in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"I would earnestly request you to stop this dialogue with Pakistan at once and Sir Creek should not be handed over to Pakistan," Modi further wrote in the letter.

"Due to the election code of conduct, Modi wrote the letter as a concerned citizen and not as a chief minister of a state," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said while giving details of the letter at a press conference here.

"I am writing to you at this juncture as I was told that a decision is being taken on Sir Creek issue on December 15," Modi said in the letter.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Rehman Malik is likely to visit India on December 14-16.

"Sir Creek has been settled 100 years back between rulers of Kutch and Sindh.

Even the tribunal verdict in 1968 headed by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson shows Pakistan getting only 10 per cent of its claim of 9,000 sq kms of this border area," Modi further mentioned.

"Handing over Sir Creek to Pakistan will totally open up Gujarat border with Pakistan.

I was given to understand that recently Pakistan carried out a joint operation of their army, airforce and navy code named Sea-spark-12, almost one month ago very near to Sir Creek," Modi said.

Sitaraman said BJP as a party supports the view of Modi on the issue.

... contd.

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