London: Former BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who
was last year expelled from his party for praising Mohammad
Ali Jinnah in his book, said here that it was wrong to
demonise Pakistan's founder.
"We were wrong to treat Jinnah as demon and Pakistan is
wrong to treat Gandhi as demon. We can not invent history,"
Singh said here last night releasing the international edition
of his controversial book 'Jinnah: India, Partition,
Independence' in the House of Commons.
Describing Jinnah as a man of great determination, Singh
said his transition from ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity to
Quaid-e-Azam was fascinating.
"... But before he could give shape to Pakistan of his
conception he was out," Singh said.
Describing the book as his "child", Singh said he had
nurtured it for five years but within three and a half
months of its publication, the book had gone through its 23rd
edition.
The former External Affairs minister, who was expelled
from the BJP for praising Jinnah, also said that the situation
in South Asia was "possibly the most perilous we have faced in
the last 62 years".
He said in the last six decades there has been a shift in
global centre of discord from Europe to East and South Asia
and termed the US drone attacks in Pakistan "unacceptable".
"India is surrounded by countries which are in a state of
great turmoil and internally India is also troubled," Jaswant
said.
He said foreign troops were fighting in South Asia which
was "unacceptable" and said "it was a great failure on the
part of all of us".
Singh also termed the US drone attacks in Pakistan as
"unacceptable," adding he would work for peace in South Asia
and particularly between Pakistan and India.
"Every drone attack is an attack on the sovereignty of
the country," he said.
Answering a question on the decision to release three
terrorists in exchange of 166 passengers held hostage in a
hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar, Singh said: "Any
day if I had a choice, I will work for saving the lives of
innocent people and fight terror on another day. I will still
do it."
Singh was the Minister of External Affairs in the then
NDA government when the Indian Airlines plane was hijacked.
Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal
Democrats in the House of Lords, leading NRI Labour MP
Virendra Sharma, Baroness Shriela Flather and Ashok Kumar,
Labour MP, were among the distinguished people present at the
launch organised by the Indian Journalists Association.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 15:07