May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

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NEW DELHI, May 9: India’s Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said on Friday that friendship with Pakistan was possible, but Islamabad would first have to cut off, what he called support for militants, fighting Indian rule in occupied Kashmir.

He made the comments hours before the arrival of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in New Delhi.

“Our stand on cross-border terrorism is still the same, but we have also said that just because of our committed stand that cross-border terrorism must stop, it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends,” he told a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The comments from the hawkish deputy prime minister highlighted a more conciliatory, but cautious approach, taken of late by India towards Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, 78, has pledged a final decisive bid to make peace with Pakistan.

“Friendship is in our interest, Pakistan’s interest, in the interest of the world,” Mr Advani said. “Friendship is possible....but you have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure first,” he said. Mr Armitage was due to hold talks with Indian leaders, including Vajpayee, on Saturday. —Reuters