PM may visit Pak. to continue talks: Advani

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW, AUG. 18. The Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, today said the Government was collecting all available evidence against the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to make a `foolproof case' against the organisation. However, the Government was carefully examining the legal aspects before taking any action to ban the SIMI.

He told presspersons that the Government had received disturbing reports from various quarters about the SIMI's activities and the question of banning it was being examined.

Several State Governments had sent reports to the Centre about its `objectionable activities'. Reports had also been received from other intelligence and police sources.

Mr. Advani, who was here on a day's visit to participate in a function to honour workers and activists associated with the Sangh Parivar.

Mr. Advani said his party believed that Kashmir was an integral part of India and this had been made clear by him during his talks with the Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. While Gen. Musharraf stressed that Jammu and Kashmir was a disputed territory, the Indian stand was that it did not subscribe to the two-nation theory. Kashmir could be discussed but only in the context that terrorism and killing of innocent people could not be called `jehad'.

(According to agency reports, Mr. Advani said in an interaction with editors and bureau chiefs of newspapers and news agencies that India favoured continuance of dialogue with Pakistan but made it clear that it had the will and capability to deal with cross-border terrorism by crushing the militants' designs.

He indicated that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, would visit Pakistan to continue the dialogue in a bid to resolve differences.

Mr. Advani told reporters later that the Agra summit would have come to a meaningful conclusion had Gen. Musharraf not met the Hurriyat leaders, not called the Pak.-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir a ``freedom struggle' and not talked of the division of Bangladesh at his meeting with the Indian editors.

``Right from the beginning Gen. Musharraf was in no mood to work for an understanding and was merely addressing the people of Pakistan on the Kashmir issue,'' he said.)

He claimed that during the past three months, security forces had launched an effective action against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

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