New Delhi:Fissures appeared within the Jammu and Kashmirgovernmet's ruling allies as the BJP dubbed chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire as a move not at all in "national interest". The BJP also slammed the state government's "soft policy" on stone pelters.

The BJP's state unit fielded two spokespersons, Sunil Sethi and Arun Gupta, who at a press conference here said a unilateral, ceasefire as suggested by the chief minister, would only serve to ease pressure on militants and allow them to re-energise.

Referring to an all party meeting held on Wednesday, Sethi said an opinion had come up during discussion for a unilateral ceasefire, on the lines of the one declared by AtalBihari Vajpayee government, but there was no consensus. "We have a strong view...Unilateral ceasefire in the present situation is not in national interest at all," Sethi, who was present at the all party meeting, asserted.

The BJP spokespersons described the situation in the Kashmir Valley as "very serious" and said the soft policy of the Mehbooba Mufti government was responsible for it. "Security situations is very serious...in Kashmir, stone pelting is continuously on and unfortunately one tourist has lost his life," he said. There was no statement from the BJP clarifying the party's stand yesterday when Mehbooba Mufti, who leads the PDP-BJP dispensation, announced that the all party meeting, called for discussing the situation in the state, would be requesting the Centre to declare a unilateral ceasefire.

At the press conference today, Sethi said issues on how to control the situation in Valley were debated. "Our point of view was clear that soft policy of government was responsible for emergence of (current) situation", the BJP leader said. Sethi said the way the government was dealing with stone-pelters by providing them amnesty, was causing more damage.