Synopsis of Shri L. K. Advani’s Speech
at Bhopal in rally againstTerrorism

On 9/11, Terrorists launched a massive attack on the World Trade Centre at New York , and on the Pentagon near Washington.

However the USA did not regard it as an attack just on New York and Washington. 9/11 was deemed an attack on America itself.

The BJP feels that the nature of the outrage that took place at Mumbai last week should make us realize that 7/11 was an attack on the Indian Nation.

Which is why, the BJP has launched a nationwide protest.

Nature of the attack on Mumbai’s local trains – unprecedented not only in India but also anywhere else in the world.

Executed with military precision.

India cannot take this lightly.

However, the terrorist act in Mumbai is not an isolated development.

Last Diwali, two major blasts in Delhi, in which over 60 people were killed.

Attacks on temples in Ayodhya and Varanasi.

Attack on IISc in Bangalore.

Attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Srinagar.

No country in the world has been targeted so widely and for such a prolonged period.

Total toll: 60,000 lives. Far more than the number of people killed in all the wars that India has had to fight.

And yet the UPA Government for 2 years has been behaving in a manner as if this problem virtually does not exist .The first thing that it did on assuming office was to scrap the Special Law enacted by NDA to fight terrorism, namely, POTA, which had incorporated all the safe gaurds suggested by the Supreme Court when pronouncing its opinion earlier on TADA.

When a couple of months back , the BJP organized twin yatras to mobilize public opinion against the threat posed by terrorist organizations like Lashkar – e – Toiba from across border and SIMI within the country , the ruling alliance had no qualms ridiculing the yatras.

BJP’s approach to Pakistan has been-sustained effort to find durable peace, but no compromise with terrorism.

When betrayal came in Kargil, our soldiers taught the aggressors a lesson.

Even after Kargil, we invited Musharraf to India for peace talks.

At Agra, he called militancy in Jammu & Kashmir a “freedom struggle”. The NDA Government made him return empty handed.

But the same President Musharraf had to sign a Joint Statement with Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in January 2004, giving a commitment, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF PAKISTAN, that his country would not allow any anti-India terrorist activity from its soil.

This was a diplomatic success for India.

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Our other big success was the extradition of Abu Salem to India. Although it happened recently, the groundwork was done by the NDA government.

The UPA govt must continue to press for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim.

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It is obvious that Pakistan is not fully abiding by its commitment.

There cannot be any compromise on this score.

When I met President Musharraf in Islamabad last year, I clearly told him that unless the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan was completely dismantled, there cannot be any real progress in the normalization of ties between our two countries.

It’s good that the government of India has cancelled the secretary-level talks with Pakistan.

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India is now a special invitee at the G-8 Summit.

Our PM has gone to St. Petersburg in Russia to attend the summit.

He should try to secure maximum possible support for India’s war on terror.

The world community must put pressure on Pakistan to fulfill its commitment towards India.

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Press reports about the comments of senior, Cabinet Ministers on the National Security Advisor’s warning following Mumbai, cannot but cause grave concern. The comments are ludicrous.

When members of Government itself try to trivialise such an ominous threat, it only highlights the present establishment’s serious incapacity to combat terrorism.

The BJP demands that POTA be re enacted.

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