Stop all travel between India and Pakistan, BJP tells government

Bombay News.Net
Saturday 27th December, 2008 (IANS)

India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday asked the government to stop individuals from travelling between this country and Pakistan and also sought the recall of the Indian high commissioner from Pakistan.

'Travelling between the two countries should be stopped altogether except in cases of grave emergency,' BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

India Friday issued an advisory to its citizens against travel to Pakistan following the reported arrest of several Indians in the country, who had been charged with terrorism.

Amid rising tension between the two neighbours in the aftermath of the Nov 26 Mumbai terrorist attack, Pakistan has moved thousands of troops from its border with Afghanistan to the frontier with India.

The BJP also called for 'further strong diplomatic measures' as 'Pakistan continues to be in a state of denial and refuses to deliver'.

'The government should also consider scaling down our high commission in Pakistan and recalling our high commissioner. It is time for action without creating much hype and the government must speak in one voice,' the BJP spokesperson said.

The party also said: 'It is high time India stop using the expression 'non-state actors' while describing the terrorists from Pakistan who committed the most heinous terrorist attack in Mumbai. This expression was used by Pakistan to save its face... when confronted with terrorism emanating from its soil.

'Such expressions helped make non-state actors stateless actors who subsequently were described as freelancers,' Prasad said.

'There is substantial evidence available that these terrorists had all the backing in terms of training and availability of weapons, which would not have been possible without the active involvement of important segments of the Pakistani establishments.

'The weapons, grenades and explosives bore the same mark (as those) used by the Pakistan Army,' he said.

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