BANGALORE, Jan 5: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday stepped into the political minefield of India and Pakistan’s bitter Kashmir dispute, saying that an “absolute rejection” of terrorism must be the starting point for any dialogue.
Addressing a business summit in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, Blair also condemned the October bombing of the Kashmir state legislature and last month’s attack on the Indian parliament as “terrorist outrages” and assaults on democracy.
“One thing is clear. Only politics not terror can solve issues like (Kashmir) and the starting point of any dialogue must be the total and absolute rejection of actions such as those of 1st October and 13th December,” he said.
Blair said the Kashmir issue and the “acts of terrorism connected with it” would feature “heavily” in his talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi on Sunday and during his visit to Pakistan, where he flies on Monday.
Blair said there was no room in civilised society for organisations like the Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad.
Both groups had already been banned by the British government.
At the same time, Blair gave a nod to the political separatist movement in Kashmir, saying that everybody had the right to pursure their political views by legitimate means.
“But the indiscriminate and deliberate murder of civilians to cause chaos and mutilation defies any political cause,” he added.
UN SEAT: Mr Blair also said that Britain keenly backed India in its bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
“India is now a natural contender for a permanent seat of the UN Security Council,” Blair, on the second leg of a South Asian tour, told business leaders and politicians at a conference.
“We will work with you to achieve it.”
Blair cited the role of Indian troops in U.N. peacekeeping operations in places like
Bosnia and Sierra Leone as an example of the nation’s capabilities.
India, with one billion people, is bidding for a permanent seat as part of proposed moves to expand and reform the UN council.
Currently, the permanent members of the Security Council are China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States.—AFP/Reuters
