Bengaluru, April 3 (IANS) The BJP said on Friday that its policy to build peaceful ties with Pakistan is “predicated on an end to terrorism” and the Narendra Modi government has “responded firmly and appropriately to provocations” on the border.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its resolution on foreign policy at its ongoing two-day national executive meeting here said the party has “laid out a clear policy for building peaceful and friendly relations with Pakistan, predicated on an end to terrorism”.
“There can be no compromise with terrorism. There can’t be any duplicity towards a problem that has become a regional crisis and is fast becoming an international nightmare.”
“We have responded firmly and appropriately to provocations on the border/Line of Control and threats of infiltration and terrorism,” it added.
The resolution said that “Prime Minister Modi’s message to his counterpart on the occasion of the Pakistan Day this year was unambiguous: ‘All outstanding issues with Pakistan can be resolved through bilateral dialogue in an atmosphere free from terror and violence’.”
The resolution said that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan as part of the SAARC Yatra is a “clear message to our neighbour that Bharat will engage with it only on such terms that reflect its national security and strategic interests”.
The resolution, under the sub-head Neighbourhood, also slammed the previous UPA for its “lacklustre neighbourhood policy” and said that “the fact that we face innumerable problems with almost all our neighbours is evidence that we had not engaged with the neighbourhood properly in the past”.
It said that Modi’s “strong belief in the shared future of our neighbourhood – ‘Together we grow’ “, including the invite to SAARC leaders for the swearing-in, his decision to make Bhutan his first foreign destination and visits to Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka and the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to all the SAARC countries except Pakistan, have led to “marked improvement” in ties with these countries in the last 10 short months.
On Sri Lanka, it said the policy had “suffered several ups and downs in the last three decades” due to a “short-sighted approach by the previous government, guided by domestic political ambitions”. These, it said, “damaged our bilateral relations leading to strategic problems in the immediate Indian Ocean neighbourhood”.
The resolution said Modi’s “determined effort at repairing” the ties “has resulted in a flurry of activity on both sides”, including new President Maithripala Sirisena making his first overseas visit to India, which marked a “major diplomatic victory for us”.
It said the government has rebuilt ties with “all sections of the Sri Lankan society” and Modi became “the first Prime Minister of Bharat to visit Jaffna”.
“He invoked his idea of cooperative federalism and stressed upon the 13th Amendment and beyond.”
It said Modi’s two visits to Nepal in the 10 months “opened a new chapter” in ties.
“Modi reiterated his vision of shared prosperity in South Asia at the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu in November 2014 and articulated Bharat’s determination to lead the efforts, as the hub nation, towards greater cooperation and integration in South Asia, both through SAARC and outside it.”
The resolution also said that Modi’s “vision and initiatives for the region have sparked a new wave of optimism in our South Asian partners”.
It said with Nepal, India has entered a new era of cooperation that has eluded us for decades. This includes constituting the Pancheshwar Development Authority for the 5,600 MW multipurpose Pancheshwar Project and entering into several new agreements in hydropower, travel and tourism etc.
With respect to Bangladesh, it said that both sides have traditionally maintained good neighbourhood relations and Sushma Swaraj choosing Dhaka as the first stop of her first overseas visit underscored the importance attached to the relationship.
Theresolution said that the Modi government had translated “a hesitant Look East Policy into a proactive Act East Policy”, which is “a major achievement of our government in maritime neighbourhood policy”.
It said the government’s new policy thrust on the maritime neighbourhood is “critical to our economy and security; and, for stability and prosperity of Asia” and was the central focus of Modi’s visits to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.