NEW DELHI, Feb 23: In an apparent rebuff to senior party leader Jaswant Singh, who had stated this week that he would “not defend Operation Parakram”, codename for the military mobilisation against Pakistan in 2002, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday justified it as “coercive diplomacy” without which Pakistan would not have signed the January, 2004, accord.

“I can say that the January 6, 2004, accord with Pakistan would not have taken place without Operation Parakram,” BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters during a routine media briefing.

Mr Sinha’s words were evidently aimed at his former cabinet colleague Jaswant Singh’s statement when he had told Outlook magazine that he would “certainly not defend Operation Parakram”. He also said he was not in India when the decision was taken.

“I was directly involved in Operation Parakram as money was required for the mobilisation. I was also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security,” Mr Sinha, who was then the India’s finance minister, said.

“Jaswant Singh was not present but I was and I am defending the Operation,” he added.