NEW DELHI, Oct 11: India is considering intensifying its offensive in occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Thursday.

Vajpayee told reporters in Varanasi that the government might step up military strikes in the held state.

“We are discussing the matter and an operation to this effect might be launched after considering all options,” the United News of India quoted Vajpayee as saying.

“The central government would take appropriate decisions after due deliberations and wide-ranging consultations, which are already on,” he added, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).

Vajpayee gave no details on plans to expand strikes in held Kashmir. The prime minister said India would not back out of the fight against terrorism as it affected it directly and stressed that “terrorism” should not be linked to Islam.

“Terrorism is a mindset which is anti-human and can manifest itself in any country and at any time,” Vajpayee said.

India’s Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, meanwhile, said talks between India and Pakistan could restart only if Islamabad put a halt to its support to Kashmiri Mujahideen.

Singh, who is also India’s defence minister, said he had “no plans to visit Pakistan”, even though Islamabad has publicly called on him to visit soon.

“Like the prime minister has said, we wanted the meet in Agra so that the caravan of talks keep moving,” he said of the July summit between Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf.

“But their attitude stopped this caravan and for it to start again the weapon of terrorism will have to be abandoned,” Singh said. “We are not afraid of such talks but the reality of such talks has to be examined first,” he said.

Singh also insisted that the Kashmir dispute was a bilateral issue and ruled out mediation by any third country.

“Our stand is very clear. Jammu and Kashmir is not an international issue. It is a bilateral issue because our neighbours have been interfering in the region and so talks will have to be bilateral,” he said.—AFP