The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday went on the offensive against Islamabad for rolling out the red carpet for the separatist Hurriyat leaders and vowed to take up the issue in Parliament.
"The Pakistan government should have ensured that they did not enter Pakistan without Indian passports. Our apprehension that the bus to Muzaffarabad would facilitate separatist elements to enter Pakistan without Indian passports has been proved true," BJP parliamentary party spokesman V K Malhotra said.
Condemning as "fallacious and unacceptable" Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's statement that the Hurriyat represented the people of Jammu and Kashmir, he said. "They have no representation in Jammu and Ladakh regions. In Kashmir valley also, Hurriyat never contested elections and have no representative character at all."
Terming as highly objectionable Pakistan's action in supporting and actively helping separatist elements, the BJP deputy leader in Lok Sabha said it was in "blatant violation" of the joint statement issued by Musharraf and the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 6, 2004.
He asked the United Progressive Alliance government to explain what action it contemplated against Hurriyat leaders.
He added that Pakistan had not allowed elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir to travel to PoK.
Significantly, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in the latest issue of its mouthpiece Organiser, had criticised the BJP for ignoring the Hurriyat's visit to Pakistan.
"In the unnecessary controversy over Jinnah, the country has totally ignored the dangerous game Hurriyat has been playing in Pakistan. As a national party, the BJP should have been on the forefront exposing their mischief.
"Giving political cover to Manmohan Singh's Pakistan mission - if there is one - is not BJP's role," it said in a lead article by Editor R Balashankar.
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