October 3, 2002	Thursday	Rajab 25, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

NEW DELHI, Oct 2: For India war with Pakistan is always the last option and it remains so today, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Wednesday.

In reply to a question if war was an option in settling serious disputes with Pakistan, Mr Sinha was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: “War is always the last option, but India has been successful in cornering Pakistan through diplomatic channels. We are still pursuing diplomatic options”.

“Undoubtedly the terrorist camps are there and it is good that the world community has realized it. We have convinced the world players,” Mr Sinha told reporters in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

The foreign minister, PTI said, attacked President Pervez Musharraf, saying the latter “continues to give irresponsible statements after every incident (which) exposes Pakistan’s links with terrorism”.

Commenting on remarks by US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Monday that Pakistan needed economic assistance to defeat terrorists, Mr Sinha said: “Many nations, individuals and the G-8 were already convinced where terrorism was generated”.

The minister claimed that the people in Jammu and Kashmir had rejected terror through what he described as an impressive turnout during the assembly elections under way there. Mr Sinha also quoted Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as saying “terrorism is in its last leg. It will be finished off very soon”.

“When people reject extremism then it sounds a death knell to terrorists and it was proved during the election,” Mr Sinha said.

It was the second time within a week that an important Indian minister had made remarks about war as an option with Pakistan. Junior Home Minister I.D. Swami had made similar comments in Srinagar last week and in roughly the same context.