Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002
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By Vinay Kumar
Jammu and Kashmir, where the Assembly elections were being held, "is at a turning point", Mr. Vajpayee said and expressed the confidence that the border State "will leave the nightmare of militancy behind" and get back peace and normality. He was speaking at the annual conference of the heads of State police forces, Central police organisations and intelligence agencies here. He said that while polling in the first two phases in Jammu and Kashmir so far had borne out the Government's commitment of holding free and fair elections, there was a widespread fear psychosis created by Pakistan-backed terrorist organisations. "There were killings of candidates and political activists, intimidation of voters, calls for poll boycott. However, the people of Jammu and Kashmir braved all this once again to demonstrate that the bullet cannot defeat the ballot in a democracy,'' he said. Asking the security forces and intelligence agencies to go on doing the "difficult and challenging job" in Jammu and Kashmir of getting the better of militancy, the Prime Minister said the Government would simultaneously intensify its diplomatic initiatives to continue the fight against terrorism. India would "remind the leading nations of the international coalition against terrorism that they should redeem their pledge to combat and defeat terrorism everywhere, irrespective of the cause it espoused. Which means, that Pakistan should be held accountable for its continued sponsorship of terrorism in India". Clarifying his recent remarks that "terrorism is breathing its last breath", Mr. Vajpayee said world opinion had turned against terrorism in an unprecedented manner. "The barbaric incidents of September 11 have opened the eyes of the global community to the grave threat that terrorism, fuelled by religious extremism, poses to peace and stability in the world. In Afghanistan, the world community has clearly seen what happens to terrorism ultimately.''
`Terrorism is blasphemy'
Asserting that the killing of innocent women, men and children could not be justified on any ground, Mr. Vajpayee said that terrorists were not social or political revolutionaries fired by noble or universal ideals. "It is increasingly recognised that terrorists have no religion; and that they actually commit blasphemy when they commit heinous crimes in the name of religion,'' he said. Terrorism had failed to find any place in the conscience of human society. "And what is rejected by society cannot have an enduring life. Those who continue to support it will doubtlessly get isolated from the rest of humanity. It is in this sense that I had remarked that terrorism is breathing its last breath,'' Mr. Vajpayee said. The main threat to internal security — cross-border terrorism fuelled by religious extremism — drew its ideological sustenance, organisational patronage and operational support from outside the borders. "To overcome this challenge, we have to fight our battle at various levels with multiple means — diplomatically, politically, ideologically and, of course, on the ground with intelligence and firepower. The past year has seen India make steady advances on all these fronts. This has made our adversary grow desperate. And desperation is leading it to become more and more dastardly in its losing war of terrorism against India,'' he said. Mr. Vajpayee had a word of advice for the men in khaki: they must remain apolitical, neutral, and free of sectarian, regional or any other kind of bias.
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