- LUCKNOW (PNS) - In his
harshest
statement to date, Indian Extremist Hindu Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee
on Thursday warned that war would be the only option if Pakistan failed
to take quick action. Pakistan has been asking for evidence which India
has failed to present to anyone in the world.
-
- Vajpayee, however, told reporters before leaving for
Kathmandu, to attend a South Asian summit, that New Delhi did not favour
a military showdown and that he had no plans of meeting Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf in Nepal, reports IANS.
-
- "We are not interested in war. We want this whole
issue of terrorism to be resolved through diplomacy. But if we see that
it doesn't work, then there is no option but war. Yet we would make every
attempt to prevent war.
-
- "So far we have not been communicated anything
officially.
Whatever we know is through newspapers and reports sent by the Indian high
commission in Pakistan.
-
- "India would like to know how many terrorists have
been arrested by the Pakistani authorities, who are these people, what
crimes are they being charged with.
-
- "We would also want to know whether any of these
arrested were in some way connected to the attack on Parliament and whether
any of them were also thought to be involved in previous terrorist attacks
in India.
-
- "Further, Pakistan must spell out what future steps
it proposes to take to bring an end to terrorism."
-
- Vajpayee's comments - his most outspoken on the subject
-- came amid growing border tensions between Pakistan and India, which
has blamed Islamabad for the continuing acts of terrorism in India. New
Delhi says the five terrorists who stormed the Indian Parliament December
13 and were killed were Pakistanis.
-
- Vajpayee added: "From whatever has been done by
Pakistan so far, it appears that Pakistan is still not ready to separate
itself from terrorism."
-
- Asked whether he would meet Musharraf if he made an offer
to talk, he said: "This is a hypothetical question."
-
- Vajpayee claimed international support for India's war
against terrorism. "Almost every nation has condemned the attack on
the Indian parliament and said this must stop."
-
- He said the question of terrorism would be raised at
the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
beginning in Kathmandu Friday that was earlier meant to discuss regional
economic issues.
-
- "But because each of the SAARC countries has been
suffering due to terrorism, it will have to be a salient subject of
discussion
there."
-
- Asked whether he would raise the question of Pakistan's
role in perpetuating terrorism in India, he said: "There is no
separate
issue relating to any particular country. But there has to be a broader
discussion on the issue.
-
- "We have to see that the U.N. resolution on curbing
terrorism is implemented in true letter and spirit."
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