By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asserted that if elected to power it would have no peace dialogue with Pakistan unless Islamabad dismantles the terror infrastructure on its soil. The party delineated its approach towards foreign policy in its manifesto released here Friday.
The manifesto, released in the presence of BJP’s prime ministerial hopeful L.K. Advani, said: “There can be no comprehensive dialogue for peace unless Pakistan dismantles the terrorist infrastructure on the territory under its control.”
The BJP also said Islamabad should start prosecuting terror elements and organisations and put an end to the use of cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
It said if elected to power, it would have a dialogue with Pakistan only if it “stops using the territory of third countries to launch terror attacks on India”.
The party said its government would “re-craft India’s Nepal policy to rid it of the (United Progressive Alliance) UPA’s biases that had influenced” the country’s response to events in Kathmandu.
The party manifesto said India shared a common civilisational and cultural history with Nepal, and added that “India-Nepal relations must be based on friendship, mutual cooperation and harmony of interests”.
The party’s government would review the “existing arrangements” and revise these keeping in mind the mutual interests, which would be based on dialogue.
“The BJP would like to see Nepal emerge as a stable, prosperous country, and will strive to strengthen age-old fraternal ties,” the manifesto said.
On Bhutan, the party said it would strengthen the “existing close relations”. On Bangladesh, it would “pro-actively engage the government of Bangladesh on issues of mutual assistance and benefit. A friendly government in Dhaka is in India’s interest.”
The manifesto said the party believed that Sri Lanka had the right to deal with terrorism on its soil but “at the same time, the political, economic and human rights of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority community must be protected by the government in Colombo.”
“The BJP will pursue a robust relationship with Sri Lanka and regain the initiative that has been lost during the last five years.”
The party said it would “further build upon India-Afghanistan relations and work in close association with the international community to ensure a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.”