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Pakistan is a 'wounded wild animal', says Advani

Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani Thursday likened Pakistan to a "wounded wild animal" trying to avenge one defeat after another, and said that the Government of India would take all necessary action "to stamp out" Inter-Service Intelligence activities in the country.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party meeting in Gandhinagar after filing his nomination papers for that Lok Sabha constituency, Advani said even after the Kargil defeat Pakistan was continuing the proxy war against India.

''The condition of Pakistan is like that of a wounded wild animal. Its army and government stand defeated,'' he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Lahore bus trip, he said the attempt had amply demonstrated India's sincerity in having friendly relations with Pakistan. It was due to this effort that, for the first time in 50 years, the world stood by India during the Kargil crisis, he added.

Speaking about the Shimla Agreement, the home minister said that the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh had opposed it, wanting the Kashmir dispute to be solved then and there. But this did not happen.

Advani said that Kargil would not be made an election issue. The BJP-led government did not want the credit for Operation Vijay. That should go to our brave soldiers, he said.

The strategy of the operation, Advani continued, was not limited to the battlefield and embraced "other areas."

The home minister regretted that even after the comprehensive defeat in 1971, Pakistan was trying to rake up one issue after another.

UNI

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