United Nations, Sept 25: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today bluntly told Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf that India would not succumb to his 'blackmail' or negotiate with terrorism just like the world did not negotiate with Al Qaeda or Taliban. In a sharp rebuttal of Musharraf's fulminations in the United Nations yesterday, the Prime Minister termed his offer of cessation of violence in Kashmir as an admission of sponsoring terrorism. Significantly, Vajpayee chose to be silent on a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir, saying that India can talk to Islamabad about 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 at 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.
On Iraq, the Prime Minister noted the failure of the UN in avoiding conflict and the "extraordinary inability" of the five permanent members of the Security Council to agree on action in respect of the war-ravaged nation.
Maintaining that the Iraq crisis has generated a debate on the functioning and efficacy of the Security Council and of the UN itself, Vajpayee said for the Council to represent genuine multi-lateralism in its decisions and actions, its membership should reflect current world realities.
Supporting the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's urgency for reform of the world body, he said the Security Council would have to evolve suitable decision-making mechanisms to ensure representation of the collective will of the international community.
Bureau report