BJP regret`s Krishna`s silence when Pillai attacked by Pak FM

New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) India's major opposition party
BJP Friday regretted that Home Secretary G K Pillai was not
"defended" by Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna
when he was "openly castigated" by Pakistan's Foreign Minister
Shah Mahmood Qureshi for his remarks that the ISI had
coordinated Mumbai terror attacks.
The Congress on its part described as ridiculous any
attempt by Pakistan to equate Pillai's remarks with
Jamaat-ud-Dawah(JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's anti-India hate
speeches.
"The Foreign Minister of Pakistan chose to attack India's
Home Secretary. I regret he was not defended there by India's
Foreign Minister," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Ravi
Shankar Prasad said, a day after Qureshi's unexpected attack
on Pillai at a joint news conference with Krishna after their
talks in Islamabad.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "The Home
Secretary was simply making a statement of fact about what
India's stand has been, It is only India's stand. I don't
think there is any basis for comparison of statements by Hafiz
Saeed or Salahuddin with the Home Secretary. That would be
ridiculous."
Singhvi also noted that Krishna has not confirmed
Qureshi's remarks that both the ministers were of the opinion
that Pillai's comments on ISI's role in 26/11 were "uncalled"
for.
Prasad while offering his preliminary comments on the
outcome of the Indo-Pak talks said Qureshi was making an issue
out of Pillai's statement which was nothing but a statement of
LeT operative and Pakistani-American David Headley about the
role of ISI in Mumbai attack. Headley has confessed to his
involvement in 26/11 and is currently in FBI custody in
Chicago in the US.
"They have no reply or content but they are comparing it
(Pillai's remarks) with Hafiz Saeed without taking any
action," Prasad said.
Qureshi when asked at the joint press conference last
night at the end of the talks why Saeed was not being reined
in by Pakistan from making anti-India speeches shot back: "I
agree that both sides need to create an enabling environment
and not let the climate of engagement be vitiated by negative
propaganda.
But, I want to know to what extend did the Indian Home
Secretary's statement on the eve of this dialogue help? We
both(minisers) are of the opinion that it (Pillai's remarks)
was uncalled for."
Qureshi's criticism was noteworthy as it was in response
to a question on the anti-Indian rhetoric of Saeed and he
cited Pillai's comments as a counter. Krishna's silence when
Pillai was attacked by the Pakistani minister has raised
eyebrows.
Pillai had early this week blamed Pakistan's powerful
Inter Services Intelligence(ISI) agency for "controlling and
coordinating" the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 "from the
beginning to the end". PTI