New Delhi, June 21 (UNI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today strongly refuted the charges of his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Indo-Pak peace process, asserting that there was no question of India accepting redrawing of borders or third party intervention to settle the issues between the two countries.
In his reply to Vajpayee's letter of June 15, Dr Singh also rejected the contention that the government had mishandled the visit of Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan.
The Prime Minister also made it clear that was no change in India's stand that the dialogue with Pakistan "is predicated on its (Pakistan's) commitment to end cross border terrorism, as outlined in the joint statement of January 6, 2004" issued when Vajpayee was at the helm of affairs.
"The centrality of this position was most recently reflected in the joint statement released after my meeting with President Musharraf," Dr Singh said in his letter of June 20.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that the UPA government would take forward the composite dialogue with Pakistan without affecting India's vital interests.
Dr Singh, however, rejected all the charges of Vajpayee - that his government had mishandled the recent visit of Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan and that Islamabad had been allowed to make the peace process Kashmir-centric and "slip out" of its January 6, 2004 commitment to end cross-border terrorism.
The Prime Minister has made the clarifications in his letter of June 20 in response to Vajpayee's June 15 letter where he had levelled the charges against the UPA government, questioning its foreign policy.
Dr Singh made it clear that it was Pakistan which had violated an understanding with India by inviting the Hurriyat leaders to Islamabad, though their visit was restricted to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Rejecting the BJP leader's contention that Pakistan had been allowed to get out of its promise on terrorism, Dr Singh made it clear that there was no change in India's stand that the dialogue with Pakistan "is predicated on its (Islamabad's) commitment to end cross- border terroris, as outlined in the joint statement of January 6, 2004" issued in Islamabad when Vajpayee was at the helm of affairs.
"The centrality of this position was most recently reflected in the joint statement released after my meeting with President Musharraf," Dr Singh said in his letter.
Vajpayee had, in his letter, flayed the UPA government for allowing Pakistan to "slip out" of the commitments made in the January 6, 2004 Joint Statement by making the peace process Kashmir-centric.
Vajpayee had said that with great effort and sustained strategy, Pakistan was made to commit to a comprehensive process of normalisation leading to the Joint Statement, but that process had now become Kashmir-centric, an objective cherished by the establishment in Pakistan.
He said prominence was given to Hurriyat vis-a-vis the democratically elected government of Jammu and Kashmir.
One year ago, there was a distinction between moderates and hardliners.
Today moderates had turned totally pro-Pakistan, he lamented.
Expressing surprise over the Hurriyat leaders not talking to the Prime Minister or Home Minister, Vajpayee said "they go to Pakistan and repeat every statement of Gen Musharraf." The growing demand for trilateral talks and talks of international guarantee for settlement of the Kashmir issue was undoing the "laboured achievements" of the past few years, he said.
"The events of last fortnight showed that Pakistan was reviving and keeping its options open for incorporation of Kashmir through violence, through independence,through autonomy or self governance," he had said.
