BJP criticises Kashmir bus service

Staff Report

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Thursday asked the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to explain whether India’s security concerns were kept in mind before it agreed to start a bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar from April 7.

Talking to reporters in Patna, BJP leader Jaswant Singh asked the government to explain why passports and visas were not required for the travellers.

‘’If passports and visas have been done away with, where is the need for fencing and the security forces along the Line of Control?’’ Singh asked, saying there were several questions haunting the people and the government was bound to clarify them.

Claiming that there were apparent ‘contradictions’ in the statements by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and his Indian counterpart, the BJP leader said, ‘’I have authorised documents according to which Natwar Singh made the announcement about the bus service while Mr Kasuri’s statement did not mention it.’’

Singh, who is also a former foreign minister, questioned why the announcement was made in ‘such a haste’ when the bus service was to be started in April and said “what prevents them from starting a similar service for Sialkot which is only 23 kilometres from Jammu?’’

Singh also criticised the gas pipeline project between India and Iran through Pakistan.

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