ALMATY, June 4: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Tuesday that the “epicentre of terrorism and religious extremism” was close to India’s borders, and rejected an offer of talks with Pakistan.
“Unfortunately, in recent times, the logic of conflict-resolution through dialogue has had a formidable enemy. Its name is terrorism, sustained by religious extremism. Its epicentre is in India’s neighbourhood,” Vajpayee said while speaking at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA) here.
New Delhi has faced terrorism for the past two decades and India’s patience is running out, he added.
Vajpayee again rejected Pakistan’s offer of talks until “cross-border terrorism” in disputed Kashmir territory was ended.
“As far as India-Pakistan dialogue is concerned, it is India which has always taken the
initiative,” Vajpayee said.
“In the space of the last four years, I have gone to Lahore and invited President Musharraf to India.
“We have repeatedly said that we are willing to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including Jammu and Kashmir. But for that cross-border terrorism has to end.”
Vajpayee also warned Pakistan against any loose talk about nuclear weapons.
“One of the important ground rules is that nuclear weapon states should not indulge in nuclear blackmail,” the Indian prime minister said, speaking in Hindi.
“India has already adopted the doctrine of no first use. We believe the adoption of this by all nuclear weapons states would be an important confidence-building measure,” he said.
The Indian leader said past promises President Musharraf made to crack down on militants operating in Kashmir had not been fulfilled.
“He publicly made two promises: one, that Pakistan’s soil would not be allowed to promote terrorism anywhere in the world, and two, no organization would be allowed to indulge in terrorism in the name of Kashmir. We have seen in the following months that cross-border infiltration has increased,” he said.—AFP
