BJP asks govt to scrap mechanism; PM snubs Advani

The BJP today demanded that the joint anti-terror mechanism be scrapped following Pakistan's insistence that violence in Jammu and Kashmir be kept out if its purview.

The demand came as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh turned down Leader of Opposition LK Advani's demand for clarifications on the peace process with Pakistan saying the government did not believe in conducting diplomacy in public.

The two leaders have been exchanging letters on internal security and diplomacy after the prime minister's claim that the UPA's track record on internal security is better than the NDA's.

In one of the letters, the prime minister is known to have snubbed Advani's attempts to corner him.

"We do not believe in conducting diplomacy in public and have conveyed our positions on these questions through the appropriate channels," the prime minister wrote in reply to a letter by Advani, who sought an answer as to how India could agree to set up the joint anti-terror mechanism with Pakistan, for which terrorism was an instrument of state policy.

Advani also asked Singh why India had not rejected outrightly Pakistan's reported dossier accusing India of sponsoring terrorism in Baluchistan.

Singh, in his reply, maintained that dialogue with Pakistan would make no "meaningful" progress unless Islamabad lived up in "letter and spirit" to its January 2004 commitment to check terrorism.

"Subject to this, we are prepared to explore creative and cooperative solutions that can bring long-lasting peace and amity between the two countries," Singh said.

The prime minister said several ideas that had a bearing on improving relations between India and Pakistan were being discussed at various levels. He, however, did not elaborate on this.