BJP not impressed by Pak. offer

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. The offer of Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, of a ``no-war pact'' with India has not impressed the BJP.

For such a pact to be meaningful, it would have to cover not only ``declared wars'' but also the ``undeclared war through infiltration'' that is being carried out by Pakistan in Kashmir.

Mr. Narendra Modi, the BJP general secretary, today pointed out that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has tried to create a conducive atmosphere for peace between India and Pakistan, by offering to release Pakistani prisoners-of-war and civilians caught for overstaying.

He has also offered that, henceforth, fishermen straying into Indian waters would be warned and let off instead of being taken in.

India expects reciprocal gestures from Pakistan, he noted, if the message of peace is to be taken forward.

The release of Mr. Vikas Singh was not enough. A similar gesture was needed to release the armymen and other civilians.

Another point made by the BJP was that after the Pokhran tests in May 1998 which were followed by nuclear tests by Pakistan, India had said that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons.

This was once again an expression of India's sincerity and commitment towards peace on the sub-continent. Pakistan is yet to declare that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons against India.

Mr. Modi said that time and again India had shown sincere desire for peace with Pakistan. After the 1971 war it had released the 90,000 prisoners-of-war with dignity, and more recently, Mr. Vajpayee had taken a message of peace to Lahore.

But it was spurned and instead we got Kargil, he said.

Although Mr. Modi did not mention Kashmir, it was clear that he had this in mind when he said that it was important for a no-war pact to cover the ``undeclared wars'' of what has often been described by the Government as the proxy war in Kashmir.

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