The Indian government and the Congress party defended the joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm El Sheikh earlier this month, amid pandemonium that rocked the Indian parliament on Thursday. Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, criticised the government for surrendering to Pakistan and staged a walkout from Lok Sabha while Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was no alternative but to keep talking to Pakistan.We cant erase Pakistan. Its going to exist. War is no solution, Mr Mukherjee asserted. Neither have we succumbed to terrorism nor will we stop talking, he said, adding the NDA did it. The UPA did it. This is the way the world of diplomacy moves. He said successive governments in India kept talking to Pakistan despite brief disruptions after terrorist attacks. Keeping channels open does not mean surrendering our position on terrorism, he said. Indias External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna while concluding the two-day debate said there was no deviation from the basic principles of the countrys foreign policy except for a shift in nuances and emphasis here and there. Mr Krishna said we have nothing to hide on Balochistan which is why the two prime ministers agreed to include it in the joint statement
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