[world-vedic] Talks only on return of PoK, says Vajpayee

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>Talks only on return of PoK, says Vajpayee

>Sun, 6 Feb 2000 16:17:22 -0500 (EST)

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>Title: Talks only on return of PoK, says Vajpayee

>Author: Sarabjit Pandher

>Publication: The Hindu

>February 7, 2000

>

> JALANDHAR, FEB. 6. Assuring the people that the

> Government would not succumb to international pressures

> to resolve any dispute with Pakistan, the Prime

> Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has laid down the

> condition that talks regarding the Kashmir issue could

> only be held to chalk out the modalities of the return

> of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), which, he

> reiterated, was an integral part of India, under

> illegal control of the hostile neighbour.

>

> Though India was committed to not being the first state

> to use a nuclear weapon, Mr. Vajpayee said the country

> was fully prepared to give a fitting reply to any

> hostile eventuality. He said, ``we are being threatened

> with a nuclear attack. Do they understand what it

> means? If they think we would wait for them to drop a

> bomb and face destruction, they are mistaken.''

>

> He said that if Pakistan wanted to avoid a nuclear

> holocaust, its leadership should come out openly and

> make an announcement that it would not be the first

> nation to use nuclear weapons. He was addressing a

> gathering here this afternoon, after the local Hind

> Samachar group of newspapers presented a sum of Rs. 10

> crores to the Prime Minister's Fund, Shakti, founded

> after the Pokhran-II tests.

>

> Pakistan would be unsuccessful in its attempt to

> increase international pressures on India similar to

> the manner in the past in which it had failed to

> internationalise the Kashmir issue. He said the issue

> concerning the world community was terrorism, where

> Pakistan was in the dock and India was trying to rally

> international opinion on the subject.

>

> The Prime Minister said that even during the Kargil

> conflict, international pressure was exerted to stop

> the combat mid-way. India did not submit until every

> inch (of territory) was retrieved as it was determined

> to defeat Pakistan's designs to redefine the Line of

> Control. ``Similarly, no international pressure can

> force us to take any decision in the future as well,''

> he said adding, ``we shall fight as along as we live

> and till we win. We want peace, but are prepared to

> defend our unity and integrity as well.''

>

> Reacting to the Pakistani authorities' conditions for

> bilateral talks only on Kashmir, Mr. Vajpayee said

> India also wanted to discuss the issue. The talks could

> only be held to work out the modalities for the return

> of PoK, which was one-third part of Jammu and Kashmir

> and an integral part of India. Pakistan's attempt to

> capture Kashmir through deceit would be frustrated, as

> had been done in the last 50 years.

>

> Mr. Vajpayee refused to accept Pakistan's claim on

> Kashmir on basis of the State being a Muslim majority

> province. Recalling the official-level dialogue during

> his Lahore visit, the Prime Minister said India had

> never accepted the country's partition in 1947 as a

> ``Hindu-Muslim'' division of population. ``Kashmir is

> an integral part of India because its people decided

> so. Moreover, there are more Muslims living in India

> than in Pakistan,'' he added saying that India could

> not accept another partition. Commenting on the demand

> for a plebiscite in Kashmir, Mr. Vajpayee charged that

> it was Pakistan which had not conformed to the

> pre-conditions, which said it must withdraw all its

> troops from PoK and hand it over to India. He refused

> to accept that all elections in jammu and Kashmir had

> been unfair. He recalled that under the Janata Party

> regime in 1977, the credibility of the elections was

> acknowledged internationally and the people had again

> decided to remain with India. He asked Pakistan to

> clarify whether it took the PoK after holding a

> plebiscite there.

>

> Mr. Vajpayee said India was prepared to resume

> negotiations with Pakistan only after the neighbour

> initiated steps to restore the confidence that existed

> between the two countries during the Lahore process

> prior to the Kargil conflict. Reeling out various

> statistics on the Kargil conflict, he said the episode

> had clearly shown to the world community that India's

> efforts for peace were genuine unlike that of Pakistan.

>

 

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