New Delhi: Under fire for the Indo-Pak joint statement and the End-User pact with the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday addressed Parliament in order to clarify the government's stand.
Making it clear that his government's stand is firm on terrorism, the Prime Minister said that his government has a zero-tolerance policy against terror.
Reiterating his government's stand that talks between India and Pakistan cannot proceed if terrorists target our country, the Prime Minister said, "There cannot be any normalisation of ties unless Pakistan acts against terror."
He also defended the government's move on resuming talks with Pakistan, saying, "There is no other way of moving forward unless you want war."
Clarifying government's stand on the Indo-Pak joint statement, the Prime Minister said it does not say talks with Pakistan despite terror attacks. He maintained that it is impossible to go forward with talks till Pakistan stops terror.
The PM also added that the sentence on delinking in statement has been misinterpreted.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said that action on terror can't depend on resumption of composite dialogue.
Answering the Opposition's charges on the issue of inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement, the Prime Minister said, "We are willing to look at Balochistan because we have nothing to hide."
"I told Gilani we have no interest in destabilising Pakistan and we are not scared of discussing any issue," the PM said.
"We must ensure that Pakistan acts with credibility and sincerity," Manmohan Singh said. He, however, maintained that dialogue and engagement is the best way forward.
He also said that Pakistan's charges on role of Indian consulate in Afghanistan are false.
Speaking on the Mumbai attacks, the Prime Minister said that we exercised restraint after 26/11, but made clear Pakistan must act.
"Pakistan admitted that terrorists are operating from its soil against India. The dossier handed over to us by Pakistan says Lashkar is responsible for 26/11 beyond doubt," he said adding, "it is a response we got from Pakistan that NDA never got".
Unless we talk directly with Pakistan, we have to rely on third party, he added.
Responding to Opposition's charges on talking with Pakistan, the PM said, "We had supported Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative with Pakistan. I shared Vajpayee's frustration in dealing with Pakistan."
Speaking on the End-User pact, the Prime Minister made it clear that the pact with the US doesn't compromise India's sovereignty.
He however, made it clear that India won't sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).