NEW DELHI, 14 June 2005 — The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken strong exception to Pakistan allowing entry to the Hurriyat delegation in the country without Indian passports which “showed that it (Pakistan) was supporting and actively helping the separatist elements”.
In a statement issued here, BJP parliamentary party spokesman V.K. Malhotra said it was also the duty of the Manmohan Singh government to spell out immediately what action it was contemplating against the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders who have deliberately traveled without Indian passports.
“The Hurriyat delegation was allowed to go to Pakistan occupied Kashmir by permit and it was the duty of the Pakistan government not to allow them to 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,” Malhotra said here.
Condemning as “fallacious and unacceptable” Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s statement that Hurriyat represented the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Malhotra said, “They have no representation in Jammu and Ladakh regions. In Kashmir Valley also, the 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 the Parliament said it was in “blatant violation” of the joint statement issued by Musharraf and then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Jan. 6, 2004.
