October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

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NEW DELHI, Oct 25: Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes on Saturday said a series of proposals made by New Delhi this week aimed at normalising relations with Pakistan were part of a “last effort” to take forward a process of rapprochement begun in April.

“We did make an effort in the very first instance and that effort must be taken to its logical end,” Mr Fernandes told the news channel NDTV 24X7.

He was referring to the “hand of friendship” offered by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Pakistan in April this year, ending 17 months of tensions which saw the nuclear neighbours come to the brink of war.

“What the prime minister has done is to make one last effort to see that it is taken to its logical end. In other words, we succeed in bringing Pakistan to sit across the table to resolve whatever it is that divides us,” he said.

“...The fact of the matter is that ultimately even the prime minister can get tired,” he said. Asked whether he was quite categorical that it was the last effort made by the Prime Minister, he said “he (Vajpayee) used that term” during his public meeting in Sringar.

On Wednesday, India announced 12 proposals to improve relations between the countries. These proposals came six months after Vajpayee’s offer of friendship and the restoration of diplomatic and road links between the two countries, severed after an attack on India’s parliament in Dec 2001.—Reuters/PPI