'Terrorism anywhere should be rooted out'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 23. India and the European Union (E.U.) have decided to initiate a structured political dialogue even while calling for decisive measures against states harbouring or financing terrorism. They have also urged that the new Afghanistan government should be ``independent, broad-based, multi-ethnic and truly representative'' of the Afghan people.

In a declaration against international terrorism signed at the end of the second India-E.U. summit, the two sides said all states had a responsibility to refrain from providing moral, material or diplomatic support to acts of terrorism and preventing the use of their territory for sponsoring terrorist acts against other states. ``There can be no religious, ethnic, ideological or any other justification of terrorism,'' it stated.

The Belgian Prime Minister, Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, who led the EU delegation, said the two sides would henceforth start a political dialogue in a structured rather than an occasional manner, as in the past. The two sides also issued a joint communique committing support to the central role of the U.N. in a wide framework to promote peace, stability and reconstruction.

Addressing a joint press conference at the conclusion of the summit, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, said the declaration against terrorism underlined the common commitment to counter the grave threat faced especially by open, democratic and multicultural societies such as India and the E.U.

The India-E.U. Joint Working Group on international terrorism would help coordinate a response to the menace. ``We agreed that terrorism anywhere and in any form must be rooted out resolutely.''

On Pakistan being a member of the coalition against terrorism, Mr. Vajpayee said, ``it is true.'' Terrorist activities were continuing but ``we would like cross-border terrorism to stop completely. We hope this will take place as soon as possible.''

'No downgrading of summit'

Mr. Verhofstadt said the E.U. fully supported India's initiative for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism at the U.N. He denied suggestions that the summit had been downgraded, pointing out his presence along with that of the E.C. president, Prof. Romano Prodi. Besides, he said, the E.U. Commissioner on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Javier Solana, and the Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr. Louis Michel, had to be despatched to Central Africa on an ``urgent mission'' owing to continuing conflict there.

Prof. Prodi highlighted the economic dimensions of the summit during which the two sides decided to double bilateral trade from 25 to 50 billion euro in five years.

A joint vision statement on information technology issued at the end of the summit included a six-point road map to step up IT cooperation by creating appropriate environment through improved infrastructure, policy and regulatory framework.

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