December 24, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 19, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Dec 23: India on Monday rejected President Pervez Musharraf’s reported suggestion that New Delhi should draw its definition of terrorism from the United Nations.

“A lot needs to be done by Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism. Sufficient amount is certainly not done by the Pakistan government,” foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.

“No individual or entity other than the United Nations Security Council can rightly define the term terrorism,” Gen Musharraf told Iranian news agency IRNA ahead of President Mohammad Khatami’s three-day visit to Pakistan.

“What constitutes terrorism and what does not is, indeed, a very contentious issue, and that people differ in their definitions of the term according to their individual purposes. So, frankly the UN Security Council should define the term terrorism and then it should strictly be adhered to,” Gen Musharraf said.

Sarna recalled the UNSC resolution 1377 approved in November last year in which the member countries reaffirmed their unequivocal condemnation of all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as “criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation and manifestations in all their forms — wherever and whomsoever has done it.”

Khatami, who is due to be in New Delhi on Jan 26 as the chief guest at the nation’s Republic Day military parade, is expected to hold talks with Gen Musharraf on ways to ease the standoff between Pakistan and India.—Jay Enn