NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday emphatically ruled out handing over any part of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan.
"They (Pakistan) harp on Kashmir all the time. Kashmir is a part of India and will continue to be so.... There is no question of any part of Jammu and Kashmir being handed over (to anybody)," Vajpayee said at a function at which the MGR-Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Ruling out immediate resumption of talks with Pakistan, the prime minister said, "Our neighbour has been put in a very difficult situation" in the wake of the global campaign against terrorism.
He said: "They do not know what to do and what to say. They keep on saying that they would like to meet with Indian leaders. Meeting for what? For discussing the weather or some business?"
Recalling his trip to Lahore, Vajpayee said what India got in return was the intrusion in Kargil.
Despite this, India invited President Pervez Musharraf for the Agra summit in the hope that there would be some progress on the path to brotherhood, he said. "But that did not happen. He went back empty handed. What else did he want? All the time (he was harping on) Kashmir," he said.
The prime minister expressed confidence that a time would come when peace would return to J&K.
He said India was fighting against terrorism and there was now a global alliance against the menace.
Tell us what you think of this report
Call India
