BJP leaders raise Antony's 'goof-up' on J&K killings with PM

New Delhi: The BJP leaders led by LK Advani on Wednesday raised with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh their objections to Defence Minister A K Antony’s statement on the killing of Indian soldiers along the LOC, terming it as a “goof-up”, and pressed for a clarification on the serious matter. BJP leaders were called by the Prime Minister to discuss the Bangladesh Land Border Agreement, on which the government is seeking the support of the main opposition party. [caption id=“attachment_1018285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AK Antony. AFP[/caption] Besides Advani, BJP President Rajnath Singh and Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were also present at the meeting. From the government’s side, Defence Minister A K Antony attended the meeting. During the hour-long meeting with Singh, BJP leaders raised the issue of the Defence Minister’s statement, wherein he had said that five Indian soldiers were killed by “terrorists along with some persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform”. The BJP leaders conveyed their displeasure at Antony’s “goof up” and sought a clarification on the issue, party sources said, adding the government has promised to issue a statement tomorrow in this regard. They are understood to have asked the Prime Minister why the Defence Minister was “soft” on Pakistan and why the government was treating such a sensitive issue in a casual manner. Reaffirming their stand taken in Parliament, the BJP leaders sought to know why there were contradictions in the Defence Minister’s and the Army’s statements. They also sought to know the “compulsions” the government had while giving a “clean chit” to Pakistan in the killing of five Indian soldiers along the LOC, the sources said. The Congress has rejected the contention that the Defence Minister had committed a goof-up with his statement “There is no goof-up, no mistake, no contradiction. Whatever information was available with the Defence Minister, he said according to that,” Congress spokesperson P C Chacko said. The BJP also conveyed its opposition to the Bangladesh Land Border Agreement, saying India will have to give in much more land in lieu of what it would receive. Later, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the Defence Minister’s statement about the killing of five Indian jawans “is contrary” to the press release issued by the Defence wing on the issue. She said while the Defence wing’s statement categorically accuses the Pakistan army for the incident, the Defence Minister told both Houses of Parliament that the ambush was carried out by some persons dressed in Pakistan army uniform. “The Defence wing statement says ’this action is a likely consequence of frustrations of the terrorist’s tanzeems and Pak army.’ This is missing from the Defence Minister’s statement…We wanted the Defence Minister to clarify on this to Parliament,” Swaraj said on Twitter. Reacting to Congress’ statement that BJP was doing politics over dead bodies, she said they were asking about “martyrs” and not “dead bodies”. “Kshama karein, ye lashein nahin - shaheed hain”, she said, adding “Aur shaheedon ke baare poochhna rajneeti nahin, deshbhakti hai” (to ask about martyrs is not politics but patriotism). PTI