Accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of pursuing a "crippling" foreign policy, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked it to beware of pitfalls while taking follow up action on the nuclear deal with US.
Initiating a discussion on the working of external affairs ministry in Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh said India has to be very clear and will have to be clinically analytical while assessing where the current US policy is headed".
"India is the only country in the world which still has unsettled borders. It is a crippling deficiency in the foreign policy," Singh, a former external affairs minister, said. Noting that the US wanted a deal with India because of its failure in its foreign policy on Iraq, Iran and the West Asia, Singh cautioned, "For each failure of the US in the region, the region has paid, India has paid and we will continue to pay."
Accusing the US and other major nuclear powers of adopting double standards on the issue of nuclear non-proliferation, he said India must consistently work towards universal nuclear disarmament as otherwise it would be accused of being a partner in double-standards especially after the Indo-US deal.
Singh warned that if India worked in this "shadow of dishonesty", its image would get coloured and it might ultimately have to pay a heavy price. He also wanted India to stop raising the issue of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir with the US.
Singh, however, welcomed the Indo-US deal as it aimed at bringing about energy security, which was vital for economic security of the country.
He said the government should share with political parties the detailed sketch of the ongoing Indo-Pak dialogue.
Referring to the Afghan situation, he questioned the presence of NATO powers in the country and voiced concern over re-emergence of Talibans. Singh said India lay in a tri-junction of collapsed empires -- Ottaman, British and the Soviet Union. The impact of these collapsed empires was huge on India because of the geographical proximity.
