The party felt Union Home Minister L K Advani appeared to be ``quite oblivious'' of all this when he and some of his colleagues speak of ``resorting to military solutions to the unfinished agenda of 1947''. The Congress said repudiation of the Shimla Agreement would lead to other avenues of resolving the bilateral dispute over Kashmir.

``For two decades and a half, India and Pakistan have been mutually bound by the historic Shimla agreement of 1972 between Indira Gandhi and Z A Bhutto. The basic tenet of that agreement is peaceful settlement of all disputes through bilateral dialogue,'' a party statement said.

The Shimla Agreement came after the 1971 war with Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh. The Congress said the Bharatiya Janata Partymight want to consider that repudiation of the Shimla agreement could open up another opportunity to Pakistan for reneging on the bilateral commitment.

``Furthermore, crossing the Line of Control will also mean overrunning UNMOGIP observers, the oldest UN peace keeping minion still in place although India doesn't recognize their need since the Shimla agreement. Many BJP ministers seem to feel that international relations are a variety of municipal elections in which sabre-rattling and tall promises are the order of the day. "But provocation, paranoia and press conferences cannot be a substitute for policy,'' the Congress statement added.

Congress spokesperson Salman Khurshid added that if India wished to maintain good relations with neighbouring Pakistan,then ``we must keep our egos at home''.