Did PM invite Gilani under pressure, asks BJP

New Delhi/Chennai (PTI) Maintaining that
cricket diplomacy does not work, India's principal
opposition party, the BJP, Thursday asked Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh if he had invited his Pakistani counterpart
under international pressure even though the neighbouring
country was not cooperating on terrorism issue.
"BJP has always favoured good relations with our
neighbouring countries, including Pakistan. But we see cricket
and diplomacy as being different from each other," BJP
spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters here.
He said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government should learn lessons from the past and realise that
cricket diplomacy does not work. He cited the case of 2005
when a similar exercise was undertaken but "in 2006 there were
bomb blasts in Mumbai".
In 2005, Singh had invited then Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf to Delhi to watch a cricket match between the
two countries. A year later, on July 11, 2006 a series of
blasts took place in suburban trains in Mumbai. It is
suspected that Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Toiba was involved
in the attacks.
On inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
for the India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final Wednesday in
Mohali, Hussain asked the Indian Prime Minister to clarify
if he was working under directions from abroad.
"India had said composite dialogue with Pakistan would
only take place if the latter stops sponsoring terrorism
from its soil. Has the government got any assurance from
Pakistan that it will not allow terrorism from its soil?"
Hussain said.
"Under what pressure is the Prime Minister working ?
He should clarify his position," he added.
In Chennai, Leader of Opposition in the Lower House of
Parliament (Lok Sabha), Sushma Swaraj, who is campaigning
there for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, said, "Let the
game be a game. Dialogue diplomacy should be separated from
cricket."
Hussain alleged that the culprits of Mumbai terror
attack of 2008 were still roaming free and Pakistan had not
taken any action against them in their country.
"Pakistan has not shown any goodwill towards India,"
Hussain said.
The principal opposition has maintained that India
should start a dialogue with Pakistan only after certain
conditions are met, including action on the two dossiers
provided by New Delhi pertaining to 26/11.
BJP, led by its senior leader L K Advani, has insisted
that dialogue by any name- be it comprehensive or composite-
will not bear any fruit unless Pakistan mends its ways on
"encouraging terrorism" from across the border.