New Delhi, Jan 10: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today described as "historic" and "a major breakthrough" the decision of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to resume the composite dialogue to address all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir.
"Three days back Vajpayeeji was in Islamabad. The
decision no doubt is historic and a major breakthrough," he
told the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference, organised
jointly by government and industry chamber Ficci.
On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Advani said the
fight against terrorists there "is now yielding results".
The deputy Prime Minister said that a good indicator of
arrival of normalcy in Kashmir valley was the revival of
tourism.
"Last year, the valley attracted over 1.5 lakh tourists.
Dal lake and Gulmarg are again places of holiday today," he
said asking NRIs and PIOs to visit Srinagar and other parts of
the state later this year.
With the successful conduct of free and fair elections in
J&K in October 2002, the state has rejoined the comity of
Indian states in its trek for peace, normalcy and development,
he said.
"No doubt, this has been also made possible by our
government's relentless fight against cross-border terrorism,"
Advani said.
He lauded the military action taken by Bhutan to flush
out insurgents belonging banned Ulfa, NDFB and KLO from that
country.
Bureau Report
