Panipat, Oct 18: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today rejected the demand for right to self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir questioning how anybody capturing power through gun could indulge in such talks.
"There has been talk of right to self-determination (in Jammu and Kashmir). Does Pakistan have democracy? does it have an elected government?

"Those who rule at gunpoint are talking of right to self-determination. It is not right," he said addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of Panipat refinery expansion project here.
Vajpayee said that the parts of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan belong to India and the issue relating to their retrieval will be taken up whenever there is talk on the state.

"We do not want anybody's land but we will not part with even an inch of ours," he asserted.

He said unlike in Pakistan, he was "an elected Prime Minister and will remain so till people wish."

Bureau Report