National

BJP welcomes Almaty Act

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI JUNE 6. The Bharatiya Janata Party today welcomed and endorsed the Almaty Act emphasising that "separatism" had been identified as "one of the main threats and a challenge to the security and stability" of the region and that the Act had specifically stated none of the member-states would support any separatist movement on the territory of another state.

The "secondary issues (Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations) can be resolved after meeting the "principal challenge" posed by cross-border terrorism, a statement by the BJP's foreign affairs committee said. It opposed the linking of the problem of cross-border terrorism with the other issues on the plea that this "distracts" from the "primary task" at hand.

Hoping that Pakistan would abide by its commitment at Almaty and stop cross-border terrorism, the party spokesperson, Sunil Shastri, insisted that there was no contradiction in the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, suggesting joint patrolling (with Pakistan) on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and the earlier stance of the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, describing joint patrolling as "impossible". "The BJP supports the Prime Minister's suggestion,'' Mr. Shastri said and added all that the suggestion meant was the possibility of exploring. Mr. Fernandes may have seen it as "not possible" but that in no way meant he was not willing to look at the possibility.The party statement asserted that the Almaty Act was an important step in the fight against terrorism. The 16 nations participating in the meet had pledged to neither allow terrorism in any form to be assisted, launched and financed from their territories nor provide a safe haven in their countries.

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