By IANS,
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday evening convened a meeting of the top party leadership to discuss the escalating controversy over the India-Pakistan statement signed in Egypt.
“It’s a routine meting, but the issue will be over the joint statement with Pakistan and the opposition that it is facing,” a Congress source told IANS.
The meeting was held at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and attended by Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, among others.
Earlier in the day, the Congress party described the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) opposition to the India-Pakistan statement as trying to extract political mileage from the issue.
Refuting the BJP’s allegation that the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement amounted to conceding that India was responsible for problems in the Pakistan province, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said: “This is completely wrong. In fact we want a peaceful neighbourhood. BJP is trying to make political mileage by opposing the joint statement and making such allegations.”
Ahmed added that a final view on the statement would be explained by the official government spokesperson.
The joint statement was signed after Manmohan Singh met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-el-Sheikh last week.
“Prime Minister Gilani mentioned that Pakistan has some information on the threat in Balochistan and other areas,” the document states.
It was the first time that Balochistan has been referred to in any joint declaration by the two countries.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad had said Thursday that the inclusion of Balochistan would enable Pakistan to hold India responsible for problems in that province.
“By one stroke you have given some kind of culpable legitimacy to the government of Pakistan to allege in the international fora that India foments problems in Balochistan,” Prasad said.
Prasad also said the joint statement would have a long term impact on India’s prestige in the international community.