No fresh pact with Pak: PM
Talks offer mere 'sham'

LUCKNOW, Nov 25 (PTI,UNI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today ruled out any fresh accord with Islamabad and said that cross-border terrorism in the Kashmir valley had increased since the coup in Pakistan and it created doubts about the military regime’s willingness to have any meaningful dialogue with India.

He said as long as the Kashmir problem remained unresolved South Asia would continue to be plagued by instability.

"Obviously, any dialogue requires a sincere and purposeful approach — as they say it takes two to tango", the Foreign Secretary said.

He said the talks offer by Pakistan was a mere sham.

The Kargil intrusion was in clear violation of the Simla Accord and the Lahore Declaration and created a "crisis of confidence" for India. If Islamabad really wanted bilateral talks to resume, it must reaffirm its commitment to the two accords, he told mediapersons at Raj Bhavan here.

Ruling out any fresh accord with the new regime, Mr Vajpayee said: "We do not believe in entering into new agreements and ignoring existing ones."

"If Pakistan is really interested in fruitful and friendly dialogue with India, it would have to create a conducive atmosphere by adhering to the Simla Accord and the Lahore Declaration," he said, charging Islamabad with carrying on a false propaganda that India was not interested in resuming talks.

India had initiated peace talks with Pakistan but the process was discontinued due to the Kargil conflicts, Mr Vajpayee pointed out. "We always respond to positive initiative in this regard but Pakistan has to ensure it is willing to respect the Simla pact and the Lahore declaration", he said.

The Prime Minister said the government was aware of the problems with regard to cross-border terrorism and it was planning a strategy to counter it. When his attention was drawn to the reported statement by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani that India would rebuff terrorist activities of Pakistan by counter-terrorism, the Prime Minister said the statement of Mr Advani had been twisted.

In reply to another question, Mr Vajpayee said efforts were on to declare Pakistan a "terrorist state". The USA had to take a decisive step in this regard as it was authoritative enough to declare Pakistan a terrorist state.

About his efforts to save deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from a possible death sentence, Mr Vajpayee said he had joined the global community to mount pressure on the military regime.

"I know sole efforts by my country might add to the woes of Mr Sharif. That is why we have joined others to prepare a consensus in favour of the deposed Pakistan Premier’’, he reasoned.

The Prime Minister said he had conveyed this to Mr Sharif’s son, who had telephoned him asking for his support. He also made it clear that that was the reason India had not initiated the Pakistan issue at the Commonwealth summit.

Asked about Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s demand to pardon Nalini, one of the main accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Mr Vajpayee said the issue had not yet come up for discussion at the government level. When reminded that the President had already sent the matter to it, he said: "The decision in this regard would be taken by the Union Cabinet’’.

He said the new BJP chief in Uttar Pradesh would be appointed "very soon".

Talking to the media at the Amausi airport here on his arrival on a daylong visit to his parliamentary constituency, Mr Vajpayee, however, did not specify the time limit for appointment of the state party chief. In reply to a question, he said the party leadership would make every effort to strengthen the party organisation in the state.

The Prime Minister was on his first visit to the state capital after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Lucknow for the fourth consecutive term. He attended several functions before returning to Delhi late in the evening.

The Prime Minister did not agree that dropping of the three contentious issues — Construction of temple at Ayodhya, Article 370 and common civil code — from the national agenda were responsible for BJP’s reverses in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

"These three issues were not part of our agenda during the 1998 General Election, but the BJP had then won 57 seats in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

"We have to look into all reasons in detail which had caused poll reverses," Mr Vajpayee said, adding the party’s performance in his own constituency (Lucknow) would also be considered during such assessment.

On Kalyan Singh’s removal from the Chief Minister’s post, the Prime Minister said the former had owned moral responsibility for the party’s poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh and a "change of guard" in the state was a collective decision of the central party leadership.

"It is absolutely wrong to say that I was instrumental in this change," Mr Vajpayee said, adding "no one has been punished for the debacle."

Addressing a gathering at the Alambagh crossing after unveiling the statue of labour leader T.N. Bajpayee, he said high-level talks were on with regard to the wage structure of railway employees. "I would intervene, if required’’, he assured the railway men.

Dialogue ‘need of hour’

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (PTI) — Pakistan has renewed its offer for the resumption of the stalled Indo-Pak dialogue process stressing that it was the "need of the hour" and that the resolution of the Kashmir problem the "need of the region".

Foreign Secretary Shamsad Ahmed calling for a "positive approach" by New Delhi said: "Dialogue is the need of the hour, it is the need of the region. A dialogue between the two countries on the basis of finding a final settlement to the Kashmir problem is the need of the region."

Mr Ahmed during an informal chat with newsmen at a diplomatic party yesterday expressed hope that New Delhi, "would see reason and adopt a positive approach."