New Delhi, Nov 01: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today sought to give a new direction to his peace initiative, saying the effort was aimed at "encouraging" those elements in Pakistan "who recognise the folly of permanent hostility towards India”. Addressing the combined armed forces commanders’ conference here, Vajpayee said India would enter into a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan only after it saw sincerity in Islamabad's efforts to stop cross border terrorism and to dismantle infrastructure of terrorism.
"We will continue to deal firmly with cross border terrorism and a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is only possible when we see sincerity in their efforts to stop cross border infiltration and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism," he said. Referring to recent measures announced to promote greater people to people interaction, cultural exchanges and economic cooperation with Pakistan, Vajpayee said it was India's effort to encourage those elements in Pakistan, who recognise the folly of permanent hostility towards India.
Calling on the armed forces to evolve a comprehensive counter terrorism doctrine by developing suitable capabilities of manpower and high technology equipment, the Prime Minister said the Russian retreat from Afghanistan had released thousands of armed mujaheedins and jehadis whom Pakistan had redirected into Jammu and Kashmir.
For the first time, the Prime Minister referred to the boundary dispute with China and aid "we should be willing to take some pragmatic decisions" to reach the strategic objective of final resolution of the boundary dispute. Vajpayee said the decision of the two governments to appoint special representatives to discuss the boundary question from a political perspective was a particularly significant measure.
"A final resolution of the boundary question would release considerable military energies and finance for other more purposeful activities," he said adding, "It is therefore a strategic objective and to achieve it we should be willing to take some pragmatic decisions."
Brushing aside Pakistan's "implied claim" to Afghanistan as an expansion of its strategic space, Vajpayee said, "We cannot accept it" as in India's larger regional interests including energy security, Afghanistan and central Asia were of great importance to us.
Declaring that India will withstand "crude threats" that were being made against its consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad, Vajpayee said economic assistance and other cooperation initiatives would continue with Afghanistan. Bureau Report