BJP on Saturday said the resumed dialogue with Pakistan cannot be revoked due to “one attack” and accused Congress of “politicising” the >Pathankot terror incident .
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar batted for the continuation of talks with the neighbouring country, saying “unless you talk terror, terror will not come down”.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lahore initiative, the Environment Minister said the onus was on Pakistan to follow the solemn promise given to India in 2004 that it will not allow its land to be used for terrorism.
“This process (talks) cannot be destroyed due to one attack... Pakistan is our neighbour. You cannot change your neighbour, you can change friends and therefore we must continue with the talks but talks have to be mainly on the issue of terrorism and that’s what exactly India is doing,” Mr. Javadekar said.
Pakistan will have to walk the talk on the issue of terrorism, he said.
He supported Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s assertion that India wanted friendship with Pakistan but >will forcefully respond to any act of terrorism .
Attacking Congress, he said it had tried to politicise the Pathankot terror incident and that was highly “condemnable”.
“When the whole nation is standing with the security forces, Congress is singing a different tune. It is very unfortunate and we condemn it,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said, “This is the obvious risk of terrorism that India has borne for a very long time.
We are constantly going to do our best to deal with the situation and ensure that these forces are defeated.”
