Srinagar terror attack: BJP calls for scaling down ties with Pak

New Delhi: In the wake of terror attack on a CRPF camp in Srinagar, BJP today asked the government to scale down relations with Pakistan to the “minimum” level as the attackers are believed to belong to that country. Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad underlined that the attack took place just four days after Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited Ajmer for peace. [caption id=“attachment_659646” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ravi Shankar Prasad. AFP[/caption] “Five CRPF jawans were killed in the attack in Srinagar today. The Home Secretary had said they appear to be Pakistani terrorists. Just four days back the Pakistan Prime Minister had come to India to pray for international peace,” Prasad told reporters. He referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent statement that there cannot be business as usual with Pakistan if it continues to support terror against India from its soil and said, “We want that after this attack minimum relations need to be maintained with Pakistan.” Prasad, however, did not specify how much “minimum” the relations should be scaled down to. The main opposition insisted that the 6 January, 2004 accord between the two countries- signed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf- should be the basis for all bilateral engagement between the two nations. “Pakistan had pledged in the accord that it will not allow its soil to be used for sponsoring any act of terrorism against India,” Prasad said. To a question, the BJP spokesman said his party does not agree with the view of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) should be removed from parts of the state. PTI