‘If Musharraf was…’: Tharoor's fresh counter to BJP over ex-Pak military ruler

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday cornered the Bharatiya Janata Party over deceased former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. In a tweet, Tharoor questioned the saffron party over the Vajpayee government’s ceasefire negotiations with the then military ruler in 2003 and the joint statement a year later.“Question to BJP leaders frothing at the mouth: if Musharraf was anathema to all patriotic Indians, why did the BJP Government negotiate a ceasefire with him in 2003 & sign the joint Vajpayee-Musharraf statement of 2004? Was he not seen as a credible peace partner then?”, he tweeted.

On Sunday, Tharoor tweeted on the death of 79-year-old Musharraf, calling him an ‘implacable foe of India’ who became a ‘real force of peace’. The BJP attacked him over the tweet, citing a statement of Musharraf in which he had hailed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

“Parvez Musharraf who had hailed Osama Bin Laden & Taliban had sung praises of Rahul Gandhi too – called him a gentleman and pledged his support to him!! Perhaps this is the reason why Shashi Tharoor is eulogising the architect of Kargil & a backer of terrorism!! Sigh”, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala tweeted.ALSO READ: 5 major meetings Musharraf had with Indian leadership | All you need to knowEarlier today, Tharoor again tweeted,”I was raised in an India where you are expected to speak kindly of people when they die. Musharraf was an implacable enemy &was responsible for Kargil but he did work for peace w/India, in his own interest, 2002-7. He was no friend but he saw strategic benefit in peace, as did we.”Musharraf, the architect of Kargil war, ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 after overthrowing the government of Nawaz Sharif, who had appointed him as the Army chief. He passed away at the American Hospital in Dubai yesterday after a prolonged illness.