Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi (C) greets supporters during an election rally in New Delhi on September 29, 2013.
India’s main opposition leader, Narendra Modi, has vowed a tough stand against arch-rival Pakistan if his party wins parliamentary elections next year.
Modi branded Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as too weak to raise the issue of attacks on Indian soil, which New Delhi blames on Pakistani-based militants, during his talks with his Pakistani counterpart on Sunday.
œToday the prime minister meets Nawaz Sharif but the country doubts whether the prime minister has the courage to discuss the issue of terrorism unleashed on us by Pakistan,” Modi told thousands of jubilant supporters at a rally in a park just outside New Delhi.
The mass rally was Modi’s first in the capital since he was elected the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate for general elections next year.
His remarks come after Premier Singh confirmed that he would meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Sharif, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session this weekend.
New Delhi and Islamabad have been working behind the scenes in recent weeks to secure the high-level meeting.
Premier Sharif has recently called for a new beginning with India, amid simmering tensions and killings in the Kashmir region.
“I am committed to working for a peaceful and economically prosperous region. This is what our people want and this is what I have long aspired for,” Sharif said in his address to the 68th United Nations General Assembly on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
The fresh talks were aimed at resolving long-standing disputes including the Kashmir issue.
Media reports say, however, that no major breakthroughs were expected on controversial issues such as the Kashmir dispute and terrorism.
Nevertheless, the two countries will agree to ease a number of trade and travel restrictions in the interest of peace.
Analysts say the meeting with Sharif will raise hopes of a possible resumption of stalled peace talks over Kashmir.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947 — two of them over Kashmir.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored Line of Control, but is claimed in full by both countries. It lies at the heart of more than 60 years of hostility between India and Pakistan.
JR/PR
Copyright: Press TV