NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accused Pakistan on Tuesday of fomenting communalism in his country and told Islamabad to forget any idea of coveting Kashmir which he described as a symbol of Indian secularism.
Holidaying in Goa to celebrate the New Year, Vajpayee, in his widely circulated “musings,” cautioned Indians against Pakistan’s alleged bid to create trouble of all sorts for India.
“Secularism is a concept of the state, enjoining upon it the duty to show respect for all faiths and to practice no discrimination among citizens on the basis of their beliefs,” Vajpayee said.
“In this sense, India has been secular since the beginning of its known history. We chose to remain wedded to secularism even when Pakistan was carved out on the basis of the spurious and communal Two-Nation Theory. This could not have been possible if the majority of Indians were not secular,” he said.
Vajpayee said while India had reconciled itself to the creation of Pakistan, “the latter continues to find it difficult to accept the unchangeable reality of a united and secular India. Pakistan, even after five and a half decades of failed pursuit, seems to be unready to face the truth that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so.”
For several years, various governments in Islamabad had, “almost as a last resort”, been targeting India with “terrorism, inspired by religious extremism,” Vajpayee said.
“Innocent children, women and men are being routinely killed, temples are stormed, our symbols of democracy are attacked, and our security forces are challenged — all in the name of a holy religious war and freedom struggle.”
Saying that “Jihadi terrorism” would eventually fail, Vajpayee said the recent elections in Jammu and Kashmir were a pointer to this.
He said it was not possible for Pakistan to fight religious extremism and to modernise itself at the same time as long it chose permanent confrontation with India.
“Therefore, it must stop cross-border terrorism and abandon its insistence on the “centrally” of the Kashmir issue,” Vajpayee said.
He urged Pakistan to jointly promote mutually beneficial trade and economic ties with India, to strengthen cultural relations, and encourage greater people-to-people contacts.
“Once our two peoples experience the fruits of a tension-free and cooperative environment, we will be able to see the Kashmir issue in its proper dimension and arrive at an amicable and lasting solution,” he said. There was no reference in this regard to the government’s clampdown on tourism from Pakistan.
