MESSAGE BOARD
NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

PM asks Pak to check cross-border terrorism

Declaring that India would never succumb to terrorism, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asked Pakistan to take "effective steps" to check cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and elsewhere, to create a conducive atmosphere for resumption of peace efforts.

In an interview to the Bharatiya Janata Party's magazine BJP Today in its special Independence Day issue, Vajpayee said the government was making concerted efforts to put state-sponsored and religiously inspired terrorism on top of the global agenda.

"Our efforts are bearing fruit," he remarked.

Maintaining that Pakistan's anti-India policy was futile, he asserted, "India will never succumb to terrorism. We have both the means and the will to crush it."

Stating that New Delhi wanted good relations with Islamabad, Vajpayee recalled that propelled by this objective, he had travelled to Pakistan to begin the Lahore initiative for peace and co-operation.

"Unfortunately, certain hostile forces in Pakistan scuttled this initiative with their misadventure in Kargil. Consequently, Pakistan not only lost on the battlefront but also on the diplomatic front," he said.

The prime minister said global support for India's stand on cross-border terrorism and the misuse of religion for inciting extremist violence had grown considerably.

Vajpayee, who said the coalition era had come to stay for some time, spoke of achievements of his government and asserted that India today was a stronger, more secure and much more self-confident nation.

PTI

Tell us what you think of this report