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BJP, Congress criticise Pakistan for 'interference in internal affairs'

The Bharatiya Janata Party has strongly condemned a resolution passed by the Pakistani Parliament criticising attacks on Christians in India and described it as ''totally mischievous and amounting to gross interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.''

Talking to newspersons, party spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu said minorities in India are more ''safe and secure'' than in any other part of the world. For a country where there is total discrimination against minorities, a resolution of this nature is ''meaningless and laughable,'' he observed.

Naidu said the news of Pakistan's passing the resolution, came along with some ''prominent'' reports of clashes between two subsects of a religion. ''They must first set their house in order,'' he quipped.

''This resolution amounted to gross interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country," he added.

The Congress too has flayed Pakistan for interfering in the internal affairs of the country and said the developments in Gujarat were purely an internal matter.

Talking to newspersons, party spokesperson Ajit Jogi took strong exception to the Pakistan National Assembly adopting a resolution condemning the atrocities on Christians in Gujarat.

Commenting on US ambassador to India Richard Celeste's remarks on security aspects, Jogi said threat perceptions and security concerns cannot be spelt out in definite terms since it depended on the security environment in the region.

Jogi also took exception to the government's decision to promulgate a series of ordinances and said these amount to undermining the powers of Parliament to legislate on major issues. This is also yet another instance of misgovernance by the present government.

He said the Vajpayee would fall under the weight of its own contradictions and that the Congress need not take steps to topple it.

UNI

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