NEW DELHI, July 25: India’s controversial “missile man” Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was sworn in as the country’s 12th president on Thursday and even though his inaugural speech was laced with poetry and references to classical music, he came straightaway to “cross-border terrorism”, an allusion to India’s standoff with Pakistan, which he said was a key issue to be addressed urgently.

“Today our country is facing challenges such as cross-border terrorism, certain internal conflicts and unemployment,” Kalam said. “To face these challenges, there must be a vision to ensure focused action of one billion citizens of this great country with varied capabilities.”

He said whatever needed to be done in this regard needed to be done quickly.

“This is the time to ignite the minds of the people for this movement. We will work for it. We cannot emerge as a developed nation if we do not learn to transact with speed. I recall the saintly poet Kabir’s wisdom to us: Kaal kare so aaj kar aaj kare so ab”. That means, “what you want to do tomorrow do it today, and what you want to do today do it now,” Kalam said.

A Pakistani official in New Delhi said he did not see anything disturbing in Kalam’s speech which he described as balanced. “This reference to cross-border terrorism is a generic term and does not necessarily mean that we are being targeted. In fact, the government of Pakistan has expressed sympathy with India whenever there have been instances of terrorism against its people.”