Agencies
New Delhi, Nov 21: Two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up BJP leader L K Advani in regard to his allegations about torture of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the Malegaon blast case, National Security Advisor M K Naryanan will meet the BJP leader on Friday to discuss the ongoing ATS probe.
Intelligence Bureau Chief P C Haldar will also be present at the meeting, highly placed BJP sources said.
According to BJP sources, Advani forcefully took up the sadhvi's case on Tuesday when the PM called him up to offer to share details of the investigations into the Malegaon blast leading to the arrests of the sadhvi and Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit.
"Have you gone through the affidavit filed by Pragya in the Nashik court where she has given details of how she was tortured and was kept in illegal detention for 16 days? I was outraged when I read the account and I am sure that you would feel the same," Advani is learnt to have told the PM.
The Leader of Opposition also strongly objected to the Malegaon case being called a case of Hindu terror.
"Before that, I had only objected to the expression `Hindu terror' for the Malegaon blast. My point was simple, we never used descriptions like Muslim terror or Sikh terror. Then why are we describing the Malegaon case as an act of Hindu terror," Advani is learnt to have told the PM, according to sources close to Advani.
Advani also used the conversation to rebut any suggestion that the BJP had reversed its stand on terrorism because of the "faith" of Malegaon suspects. "A terrorist is a terrorist. He has no religion. He is a criminal and should be treated as one," he told the PM.
Singh had called Advani just after he issued a strongly-worded statement attacking the "barbaric treatment" of the sadhvi by Maharashtra's anti-terrorism squad and against the backdrop BJP ratcheting up its protest against Malegaon arrests.
Singh had offered to send national security advisor M K Narayanan over to Advani to explain the details of the case, in what is seen as reflecting recognition on the government's part of the fallout that BJP's protests can have for the investigations into Malegaon and other suspected cases of `Hindu terror'.