Recommendations by BJP to UPA consequent to Mumbai terror

The four day long terrorist
attack on Bombay, India’s commercial capital is a
challenge that must be rebutted fully, visibly and tellingly.

Given that Pakistan has totally rejected all requests of
the Government, we expect the Government is assessing the stern steps that are
required to ensure that Pakistan
desists from pursuing jihadi terrorism. As a nationalist party, the BJP shall
stand by the government in the effective steps it takes in this regard.

To do so effectively it is
vital that on the fundamentals of this challenge, which is a national issue,
there obtains a consensus.

That is why it must be
recognized that consensus cannot be ex-post facto, it can arise only from
consultations. There must, therefore, be a full and comprehensive sharing of
facts.

The UPA Government must accept
that in the calendar months of 2008 alone, there have been around 48 terrorist
attacks, in about 18 cities; several trains, hospitals, airports and now sea
harbours have all come under attack. If all the violence unleashed by Maoists,
ULFA and others is also taken into account then around 2,300 of our citizens
have died on this account, in the year 2007 alone as reported. These facts
themselves establish the gross failure of the UPA government in protecting the
country from these jihadi predators. That is why the UPA must first demonstrate
a clarity of assessment, commitment of purpose and a total resolve in this
fight for our national security.

The UPA must also accept that Pakistan has engaged in such terrorism, as an
instrument of state policy for almost two decades now, that it has gone back on
the pledge it gave in Islamabad on 6 January,
2004 about not permitting the soil of Pakistan to be used for this
purpose. Unquestionably, Pakistan
as the crucible of terrorism has by now become its principal exporter.

The BJP, therefore, holds that
India
is not and cannot be made either the principal importer or a target of such an
evil product.

The BJP will whole-heartedly
co-operate with the UPA government in:-

(a)
Immediately suspending the miscalled ‘peace process’ with Pakistan.

(b)
Enacting the sternest possible anti-terrorism laws which ensure expeditious
trial and conviction both of terrorists and those who assist them;

(c)
Enabling all States of the Union to have
uniform anti-terrorism laws – in particular, in clearing all pending
anti-terrorist laws that have already been passed by the State Assemblies;

(d)
Undertaking a total overhaul of the intelligence machinery of the Union
government so as to achieve full and effective co-ordination between them;

(e)
Enacting a comprehensive Federal Security Law and establishing a Federal
Security and Investigating Agency;

(f)
Establishing a new Police Reform Commission, revising Police training and
equipment standards and improving the functioning of the NSG;

(g)
Expediting the establishment of police posts along the coast, and placing the
coast guard under command of the Indian Navy;

(h)
Introducing a new code for media during national emergencies, along the lines
of the post-Kargil reviews, and the UK Communications Act of 2003;

(i)
Communicating effectively the complete facts of this attack to the
international community, through every appropriate forum so that truth is not
obscured by falsehoods perpetrated by the sponsors of terrorism;

(j)
Urging the international community to press Pakistan to adhere to the
commitments it has made, bilaterally to India and internationally in bodies
like the UN, that it shall not allow its territory to be used for terrorist
assaults on other countries;

The BJP, unambiguously,
conveys to the Government of Pakistan that this road of confrontation chosen by
them, after the recent terrorist attack on Bombay, is a perilous road, a blind alley
with no exit and must be avoided.

The BJP-led NDA has
experienced the full spectrum of Pakistan’s
aggressive politics and policies, vis-à-vis India
from Lahore to Kargil to Agra to 6 January, 2004. This last, a
commitment of nil ‘tolerance of terrorist activity from the soil of Pakistan’ is
the only wise policy. A blanket denial of the obvious is not and cannot be a
worthwhile policy. It must be recognized by Pakistan
that even ‘non-State actors’, assuming that to be their provenance, are after
all operating from Pakistan’s
soil.

Our two countries are
neighbours, let us observe at least an elementary code of neighbourly conduct.
To Pakistan
we say: Do not please violate the above cited commitment of 6 January, 2004,
also of all the UN resolutions and international opinions on terrorism.

A word for the US and other NATO countries: your own
investigations have repeatedly established the hand of Pakistan in assaults of this kind, for instance,
in the recent blowing up of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. We hope that you will see through the
attempt that is being made at blackmail by insinuating that, unless you toe its
line, Pakistan
may dilute even such co-operation as it is giving in the fight against
jihadi-terrorism. We hope also that you will see that each time you step in to
bail it out, you only embolden Pakistan
to continue on its destructive course.

The BJP believes that in the
ultimate solution only lies with the people: they must ensure that power rests
in the hands of persons who will always place the interests of our country
above all else, who will never barter them for electoral gains.