-Caveat Lector- http://www.timesofindia.com/Articleshow.asp?art_id=225317234
Crack down on terrorists, PM tells Musharraf SATURDAY, JANUARY 05, 2002 12:39:53 PM KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee on Saturday said Pakistan President Musharraf must crack down on terrorists committing mindless violence in India. "I am glad he extended his hand of friendship to me," Vajpayee said at the end of his speech to the Saarc summit. In his speech earlier, Musharraf had extended a "hand of genuine, sincere friendship to India". "Now President Musharraf must follow this the gesture by not permitting any activity in Pakistan or any territory in its control today that allows terrorists to perpetrate mindless violence in India," he said, in a departure from his prepared remarks. In his speech, Vajpayee also asked Pakistan to learn a lesson from events in Afghanistan which have proved that terrorism can boomerang on its creator and proposed updating of the Saarc convention on suppresssion of the menace in a contemporary framework of cooperation. "The recent experience of Afghanistan showed graphically that tolerance, acquiescence or sponsorship of terrorism creates a monster out of the control of its own creator," Vajpayee said in his speech to the Saarc summit, that opened here, without specifically mentioning Pakistan. The Prime Minister chose the opportunity to tell the leaders of the seven-nation grouping the need to recognise the primacy of the economic agenda in Saarc and appealed for a joint war on poverty. Vajpayee said the need today was a dose of maturity to move from adoloscence to adulthood that would enable putting aside mutual rivalries. "Some mindsets may have to be altered and some historical baggage jettisoned," he said adding otherwise it would be betrayal of expectations of the people in the region. Dwelling on terrorism that affects India and some other members of the grouping, Vajpayee said "India has been a victim of international terrorism for two decades now. Other countries in our region have also been similarly affected. Terrorism uses different religious, terrritorial, economic and ethnic justifications in different countries. But the end product of mindless violence, civilian casualties, economic disruption and social tensions is the same everywhere," Vajpayee said. The Prime Minister said there was now an international coalition which accepted that terrorism has to be countered in a global and comprehensive manner. The international community has agreed that no country would allow its soil to be used actively or passively to finance, shelter, arm or train terrorist groups. "The recent experience of Afghanistan also showed graphically that tolerance, acquiescence or sponsorship of terrorism creates a monster out of the control of its own creator," he said. Apparently referring to the shortcomings in the 1987 Saarc Convention on Suppression of Terrorism, adopted at the Kathmandu Summit then, Vajpayee said as an international measure, it was somewhat ahead of its times. "Unfortunately, consequent action was not taken by some countries," he said. Pakistan and Bangladesh are yet to implement national laws mandated under the provisions of the convention. "We in South Asia have to recognise that our cooperative future will be significantly influenced by the way in which we can tackle terrorism together." "Updating and strengthening the Saarc convention would provide a contemporary framework for cooperation in this area. It would also be a powerful confidence building measure, which would create positive ripples in virtually every area of our interaction within Saarc," Vajpayee said. Mentioning that Saarc turned 16 last month, the Prime Minister said "what we need today is the dose of maturity which would lead Saarc from adolescence to adulthood. It would enable us to put aside our mutual rivalries, so that our scarce resources can be concentrated on the pressing agenda of eradication of poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy." "It would not let political obsessions cloud our collective vision of a vibrant and prosperous South Asian community," he said. Recalling his letter to a "South Asian colleague" reminding him that what was common between the two countries was poverty, he said he had invited him to take the high road of cooperation and reconciliation to satisfy the aspirations of people. "From this forum today, I make the same appeal to all the leaders of South Asia : Let us jointly declare war on the poverty which afflicts about half a billion people in our region alone. Let us develop regional poverty alleviation programmes, which would complement our national schemes and strengthen our commitment to implement them," he said. Vajpayee regretted that the independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation with a membership of eminent South Asians constituted ten years ago never took off. "I believe we owe to our people to make another sincere effort. The Poverty Commission still exists; let it be revived and reconvened to update and flesh out its 1992 report. Let us this time show greater commitment to making our cooperative mechanisms work." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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