NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In remarks that reflected abject resignation rather than hope of improving ties with Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accused Islamabad on Saturday of funding terrorism in his country and said Pakistan did not want friendly relations with New Delhi.

Addressing a meeting of the country’s state chief ministers, in the backdrop of a diplomatic row with Pakistan, Vajpayee said: “For us, the most disconcerting aspect of terrorism is that it is sponsored, supported and funded by Pakistan as a matter of its state policy.”

India has been a victim of such cross-border terrorism for more than two decades now, Vajpayee said.

“The year 2002 proved to be no different from 2001, as illustrated by the attack on the US Information Centre in Kolkata, the killings of innocent children, women and men in Kaluchak, the attacks on the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar and the Raghunath Temple in Jammu, and the storming of the CRPF (paramilitary police) Camp in Srinaga,” he said.

Accusing Pakistan of not taking any significant action against the alleged training camps and infrastructural support to terrorism, Vajpayee said: “This questions its claim to participate in the international struggle against terrorism.

“It also violates the UN Resolution 1373, which enjoins all countries that they shall not support terrorism in any way and for whatever cause.”

Vajpayee said the assurances given by the leadership in Islamabad on the issue of cross-border terrorism remain unfulfilled.

“The Pakistani establishment does not appear to be interested in establishing tension-free and good-neighbourly relations with India by ending its proxy war against our country,” Vajpayee said.

“Available reports suggest that the territories of Nepal and Bangladesh are now being used by the ISI to pursue its anti-India agenda. Therefore, we have to intensify our efforts to counter terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and subversive activities both in those states that border these two countries and elsewhere.”

He claimed that recent controversial elections in Jammu and Kashmir were free and fair despite Pakistan’s alleged attempts to stir trouble.

Maintenance of peace and communal harmony is of overriding importance for India’s internal security, Vajpayee said.—J.N