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Pakistani intrusion will be foiled, asserts Vajpayee in Ludhiana

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today promised that Pakistan's renewed attempts at intrusions and intensifying terrorist activities in new areas would be foiled.

Launching the election campaign of the BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal at a rally in Ludhiana, the prime minister virtually ruled out resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, saying, 'How could talks be held in such a vitiated atmosphere?' ''It seems Pakistan is targeting new areas for intrusion and killings. But we will not let it succeed,'' he asserted.

Vajpayee said Pakistan must stop cross-border terrorism to build an appropriate atmosphere for talks. He said sanctity of the Line of Control was not limited to Kargil. This was required for both the LoC and the international border. ''Violation of both must stop,'' he said.

Referring to the Pakistani intrusion in Kargil, Vajpayee said: ''We could have crossed the LoC, but we did not do so exercising utmost restraint and had to pay a heavy price. Restraint too has its limits.''

''We wanted to tell the world that we are a peace-loving nation,'' he added.

Vajpayee said he undertook the Lahore journey ''to foster peace and demonstrate our will for peace.'' ''If Lahore demonstrated'' our will for peace, Kargil reflected our "confidence and firmness,'' he said.

The prime minister categorically stated that in Kargil, Pakistan army regulars had crossed the LoC. ''Its (Pakistan) attempts to mislead the world did not succeed. The world saw through Pakistan's game.'' He said Pakistan even refused to take back bodies of its solders killed during Operation Vijay only to prevent the truth from coming out into the open.

''We had to bury their dead observing Islamic rites despite what Pakistan did to our soldiers. India abided by international conventions, but Pakistan violated it,'' he added.

Vajpayee said the people of Jammu and Kashmir too want peace ''but our neighbour is not ready to understand the will of the peace-loving people.''

UNI

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