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World should pressurise Pak to abandon jihadis: Advani

H S Rao in London

A day ahead of the United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's visit to New Delhi, India on Thursday asked the international community to press Pakistan to give up its support to jihadi elements in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the press after wrapping up a three-day official visit to Britain, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said the international community had forced Pakistan to abandon the Taliban in Afghanistan and 'similarly it must pressurise Islamabad to give up its sponsorship of jihadis in Jammu and Kashmir'.

Asked about the possibility of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, Advani said the 'test lies in Pakistan's abandoning cross-border terrorism as a matter of state policy'.

"The day they do it, we are prepared for dialogue on all issues, including Kashmir," he said.

The deputy prime minister said although the international community had begun to appreciate India's stand on cross-border terrorism and global support was welcome, 'we are absolutely clear that the struggle (against terrorism) ultimately has to be fought effectively and won with our own strength'.

Advani said turnout of voters in the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir would be much higher if Pakistan stopped meddling and trying to sabotage the democratic process in the state.

Advani said he favoured a confederation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh saying 'just as the whole of Europe had come together to form a union, why can't we?'

To a question on communal riots in Gujarat, he said, "What had happened in Gujarat was a matter of distress and anguish and was a blot on my government. We feel really outraged and shocked at what had happened there."

During the past 30 years, there had been four or five major riots in Gujarat, but the recent one was the worst of them, Advani said.

Answering a question whether it was in the interest of India to remove the military regime headed by Pervez Musharraf as the person who may follow may be worse than him, Advani said, "India does not view any one as a problem."

"But the normal tendency is that any one who comes to power in Pakistan feels he will not survive unless he took an anti-India position," he said. "This mindset has to change. We will very much like to see Pakistan ruled democratically."

Asked why India refrained from taking action soon after the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, Advani said, "The prime minister spoke to leaders of various countries and most of them shared our distress and anguish at the outrage."

"Subsequently in his January 12 address to the nation, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf spoke against religious fundamentalism and assured that action would be taken. Since then, America and others asked us to watch whether Pakistan's actions matched with their words," he said. "I am sorry to say that we have not seen Pakistan abandoning the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy."

Advani said, "I am told America and other countries have asked Pakistan not to allow infiltration to continue."

He said the issue of infiltration also figured in his talks with British Deputy Prime Minister John Trescott and he made it clear that infiltration was continuing.

"The entire infrastructure of terrorism Pakistan has built up over a period of time must be dismantled," Advani said.

The deputy prime minister pointed out that as many 20 terrorists declared as offenders by Interpol, including 15 Indians, were being sheltered in Pakistan and India wanted them to be handed over.

To another question, he said he did not want any country, either America or Britain, to take sides. "We would like them to fight against terrorism wherever they are. Britain has appreciated our concerns and they have contributed in their own way towards efforts to contain terrorism."

PTI

Terrorism Strikes in Jammu and Kashmir: The complete coverage

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