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Vajpayee says India will not negotiate with terrorism
United Nations, Sept 25: In one of the strongest attacks on Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today termed President Pervez Musharraf`s offer of cessation of violence in Kashmir as an admission of sponsoring terrorism and bluntly told him India would not negotiate with terrorism or allow it to become a tool of blackmail.
United Nations, Sept 25: In one of the strongest
attacks on Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today
termed President Pervez Musharraf's offer of cessation of
violence in Kashmir as an admission of sponsoring terrorism
and bluntly told him India would not negotiate with terrorism
or allow it to become a tool of blackmail.
In a virtual new position, he said India can have a
dialogue with Pakistan on the "other issues" when cross-border
terrorism stops "or when we can eradicate it".
Hitting back at Musharraf, who has been raking up the
Kashmir issue in various platforms here, Vajpayee, in his
address to the UN General Assembly, said the Pakistan leader
yesterday chose this august assembly to make a "public
admission for the first time that Pakistan is sponsoring
terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
"After claiming that there is an indigenous struggle in
Kashmir, he has offered to encourage a general cessation of
violence within Kashmir, in return for reciprocal obligations
and restraints.
"We totally refuse to let terrorism become a tool of blackmail just as the world did not negotiate with al Qaeda or the Taliban, we shall not negotiate with terrorism," he said.
Vajpayee said negotiating with terrorism would be "betraying" the people of j and k, who defied a most ferocious campaign of violence and intimidation sponsored from across the borders and particiapted in elections universally hailed as free and fair.
"This was an unequivocal expression of both determination and self-determination. When the cross-border terrorism stops- or when we eradicate it- we can have a dialogue with Paksitan on the other issues between us," he said.
Dismissing Musharraf's demand for conventional arms parity between India and Pakistan, Vajpayee told him not to confuse the legitimate aspirations for equality of nations with outmoded concept of military parity.
Regretting that the solidarity of UN in combating terrorism after September 11 attacks have not translated into coherent and effective action, he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan that "some of the members" of the coalition were themselves "part of the problem".
"We are sometimes led into semantics about the definition of terrorism. The search for 'root causes' or imaginary 'freedom struggles' provides alibis for the killing of innocent men, women and children," he said.
Observing that the UN could do a lot to carry forward the war against international terrorism, the Prime Minister said its counter terrorism committee should develop measures to ensure compliance by member-states of their obligations under Security Council resolutions.
"We should have credible multilateral instruments to identify states that contravene these resolutions. Multilateral mechanisms must be created to detect and choke off international financial flows to terrorists and terrorist organsiations."
He said a much better international system of information exchange and intelligence sharing needs to be devised to prevent terrorists from evading capture, simply by crossing national borders.
Again in an attack on Pakistan, Vajpayee said "no state should be allowed to profess partnership with the global coalition against terror while continuing to aid, abet and sponsor terrorism. To condone such double standards is to contribute to multiplying terrorism."
"We totally refuse to let terrorism become a tool of blackmail just as the world did not negotiate with al Qaeda or the Taliban, we shall not negotiate with terrorism," he said.
Vajpayee said negotiating with terrorism would be "betraying" the people of j and k, who defied a most ferocious campaign of violence and intimidation sponsored from across the borders and particiapted in elections universally hailed as free and fair.
"This was an unequivocal expression of both determination and self-determination. When the cross-border terrorism stops- or when we eradicate it- we can have a dialogue with Paksitan on the other issues between us," he said.
Dismissing Musharraf's demand for conventional arms parity between India and Pakistan, Vajpayee told him not to confuse the legitimate aspirations for equality of nations with outmoded concept of military parity.
Regretting that the solidarity of UN in combating terrorism after September 11 attacks have not translated into coherent and effective action, he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan that "some of the members" of the coalition were themselves "part of the problem".
"We are sometimes led into semantics about the definition of terrorism. The search for 'root causes' or imaginary 'freedom struggles' provides alibis for the killing of innocent men, women and children," he said.
Observing that the UN could do a lot to carry forward the war against international terrorism, the Prime Minister said its counter terrorism committee should develop measures to ensure compliance by member-states of their obligations under Security Council resolutions.
"We should have credible multilateral instruments to identify states that contravene these resolutions. Multilateral mechanisms must be created to detect and choke off international financial flows to terrorists and terrorist organsiations."
He said a much better international system of information exchange and intelligence sharing needs to be devised to prevent terrorists from evading capture, simply by crossing national borders.
Again in an attack on Pakistan, Vajpayee said "no state should be allowed to profess partnership with the global coalition against terror while continuing to aid, abet and sponsor terrorism. To condone such double standards is to contribute to multiplying terrorism."
Bureau Report