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Time for decisive war: PM
Tribune News Service and PTI

Kupwara (North Kashmir), May 22
In a tough message to Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today declared that the time had come to wage a “decisive battle” against cross-border terrorism. Addressing troops barely 25 km from the Line of Control (LoC), Mr Vajpayee said there was a limit to India’s tolerance of the proxy war.

“India is forced to fight a war thrust on it and we will emerge victorious. Let there be no doubt about it,” he told cheering jawans and officers in the presence of Defence Minister George Fernandes, Governor G.C. Saxena and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah shortly after flying into the valley from Jammu.

The “barbaric act” in Jammu was a “challenge before us and we have accepted it,” Mr Vajpayee said, adding that “we want peace” but the armed forces defending the borders of the country were also ready to fight the enemy.

“Be ready for supreme sacrifices but the target should be to gain victory,” he said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (L) waves beside Defence Minister George Fernandes (2nd from left), Jammu and Kashmir Governor Girish Saxena and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in Kupwara on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

In his 11-minute speech, the Prime Minister, referring to the intrusion in Kargil, held that on the one hand “we extended a hand of friendship with the hope of ending enmity, but they sent intruders into Kargil. They did not accept the bodies and we buried these bodies with respect.”

Stating that Kargil was fresh in the nation’s memory, Mr Vajpayee said, “We thought that repeated defeats may have led them to the right path but when we were talking of peace, of abandoning enmity and living like good neighbours, they surreptitiously attacked us from the snow-clad mountains.” “However, the way our troops evicted them from every inch of the land was appreciated the world over. They were not even able to take back the bodies of their dead.

“We know how to respect even our enemies but that should not be seen as our weakness,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the time had come to fight a decisive battle. “The world understands that we have been wronged but they are not coming out with their views openly. Hence we have to defend ourselves,” he said.

“My arrival here is indicative of something. Whether our neighbour understands it or not, whether the world takes note of it or not, but the history will record that we will write a new chapter of victory... there is no doubt about it,” he said.

He said after the Kargil conflict, Pakistan had lost the courage to engage in a direct conflict with India.

“It has now evolved a new strategy of proxy war by making use of mercenaries and selling the dream of heavenly rewards to the so-called jehadis,” he said.

“But there is a limit to our tolerance to put up with such designs,” he said.