Friday, Jun 13, 2003
Friday, Jun 13, 2003 |
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Terrorists had attacked Parliament, temples, aircraft, trains and buses in India and spared no one, including women and children, leading to the death of more than 60,000 innocent Indians, Mr. Advani said. ``The epicentre of international terrorism lies in India's immediate neighbourhood ... it gives me no joy in pointing fingers but the involvement of Pakistan can no longer be ignored,'' he said. Jehadi terrorism was a threat not only to the security of the two countries but to peace and tranquillity around the world. The terrorists who were against America also come from the same pool of jehadi terrorism, he said. The Deputy Prime Minister, who is on a 10-day visit to the U.S. and the U.K. to hold discussions on the global war against terrorism, was delivering a talk on `Indo-U.S. Relations in a Strategic Perspective', under the aegis of the World Affairs Council here. Academics and diplomats, including those from Pakistan, were among the audience. Mr. Advani said the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had once again extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan which should demonstrate that it was sincere in implementing the promises made to the United States. and the international community regarding dismantling of the jehadi terrorist infrastructure which they had spawned and fostered. Explaining the controversial ``retirement'' threat of the Prime Minister during his recent interview, Mr. Advani said Mr. Vajpayee was referring to his earlier peace bids with Pakistan — Lahore bus trip and the Agra summit — and only implied that he would give up the effort if the third and final attempt failed. Mr. Advani urged Pakistan to heed the voices of sanity and give up its futile path of confrontation with India. India, he said, was determined to see that the scourge of terrorism was removed and that the people of Jammu and Kashmir lived in peace and prosperity. He said the infrastructure facilitating cross-border terrorism remained in place as a result of strong support that the terrorists received by being aided, abetted and sponsored from abroad.
Nuclear deterrence
Replying to a question, Mr. Advani said India's nuclear policy was based on no-first use and deterrence. He said if India were made a member of the United Nations Security Council, it would discharge its duties with full responsibility. Mr. Advani said the purpose of his visit was to weave political, economic and military strands into a strategic partnership. Indo-US ties, he said, were characterised by an ``unprecedented dynamism and willingness on both sides to strengthen the relations''. Referring to the visit of the then U.S. President, Bill Clinton, to India in 2000 and invitation to President George W. Bush, Mr. Advani pointed out that after the end of the Cold War, the two ``estranged democracies'' had become ``engaged democracies'' with high-level contacts becoming frequent and substantive.
Tributes to Mahatma, Nehru
The Deputy Prime Minister paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel for their vision to make India a strong democratic and secular state. He said the economic reforms had brought about growth and these were being implemented without social turmoil or political instability.
`No theocratic state'
Mr. Advani said that India would never become a theocratic state and expressed the confidence that it would be among the world's developed nations by the year 2020. Theocracy was alien to India and its polity but ``pseudo-secularism would not thrive either,'' the Deputy Prime Minister told a gathering organised by more than 70 associations of Non-Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs). Even an atheist had a place in Indian society, so a thinker who promoted the ``crass materialism'' of the ``eat, drink and be merry'' philosophy was not prosecuted but tolerated, he said. — UNI
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