The Hindu : Advani welcomes ban on Azhar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 16, 2003

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Advani welcomes ban on Azhar

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE MAY 15. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, has reacted cautiously to the move by the government of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to indefinitely ban the entry of the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfit, Maulana Masood Azhar, into the province. At a function here today, he said that dialogue was the means to resolve differences between India and Pakistan.

"If this decision in respect of Maulana Azhar is the beginning of a change in Pakistan's attitude even to the issue of cross-border terrorism, I think it is welcome. Azhar is the head of a terrorist organisation, an organisation declared terrorist in many countries."

He said: "They (JeM) have been indulging in (acts of) terrorism in India and have never concealed their intention." "India had always held that differences between the two countries in respect of many matters should be sorted out through discussions and not by resorting to war, overt or covert."

Noting that the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy was a "cowardly war", Mr. Advani said India's insistence was on this aspect. Referring to a reported statement by the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, that Pakistan's attitude towards Jammu and Kashmir had not changed, Mr. Advani said this statement did not bother India very much. What India was looking forward to and what was of concern to it and what it would like to see was a change in Pakistan's attitude to cross-border terrorism.

Mr. Advani was in Mangalore to participate in a function organised by the ONGC to receive the first cargo of 80,000 tonnes of Nile Blend crude from the ONGC's equity in greater Nile Oil Project, Sudan.

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