NEW DELHI, Nov 1: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee kept up his tough talk against Pakistan on Friday, saying it must rebuild an atmosphere of trust before dialogue can resume.
Mr Vajpayee, who last month branded Pakistan a “terrorist state” for its alleged involvement in a 13-year separatist revolt in disputed Kashmir, said India’s neighbour had repeatedly shattered confidence in the past.
“The world keeps telling us to hold talks...our stand is that trust should be established before this can take place,” Mr Vajpayee said in a speech to remember soldiers who died fighting intruders from Pakistan in the icy heights of Kargil in northern Kashmir.
The 10-week campaign in the summer of 1999 to evict the intrusions came shortly after Vajpayee took a bus to the Pakistani city of Lahore to hold summit talks.
“I went there with a message of peace, brotherhood. What did I get, what did India get?” he said. “It was a betrayal.”
“The rhetoric is part of pressure tactics, to keep the world’s attention on Pakistan’s role in Jammu and Kashmir,” said political analyst Kalim Bahadur who teaches at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
New Delhi has been sending conflicting signals about whether Vajpayee will attend a regional summit to be hosted by Islamabad early next year.
