India will not resume talks with Pakistan: Advani

Acknowledging that international pressure has not worked on Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on Wednesday made it clear that India would not resume talks with that country till it stopped sponsoring terrorism.

"International pressure does not work beyond a point on any country. There will be no dialogue with Pakistan till it stops abetting cross-border terrorism and dismantles the terrorist infrastructure," he told reporters here.

Asked if there was any change in the level of terrorist infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir, Advani said "infiltration has not come down. There may have been a change because of winter snow blocking mountain passes".

Replying to questions, the Deputy Prime Minister said Pakistan had not shown any change in its policy towards state sponsorship of terrorism.

"I do not see any prospects of resumption of Indo-Pak talks. There might have been a change in Islamabad's words but not in action," he said when asked about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's offer to hold a dialogue with India.

"We would win the war against terrorism with our own might," he said, adding India does not need to prove its credentials to the international community after having taken peace initiatives vis-a-vis Pakistan despite the 1999 Kargil conflict.

Maintaining that security and development would continue to top the Government's agenda in 2003, Advani said the Centre would also work towards linking of major rivers and giving a boost to information technology and housing sectors.

AFP adds: Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said on Thursday, Hinduism opposed religious extremism as he tried to consolidate the ruling BJP's fresh push to portray itself as tolerant.

"Let's understand that India is secular because the culture, tradition and history of India - whatever you call it, Indianness, Hindutva (Hinduism) cannot accept this kind of religious fundamentalism," Advani said in an interview on Star television.

Advani's statement comes two days after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in a new year message to the country, said secularism and Hindutva were not opposite concepts.

Advani said there was no major threat of religious extremism in the country.

Asked if Hindutva would be an issue in elections polls in several states this year, Advani said the emphasis would be on security and development.

But he added that if other parties accused his right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) of being communal, then the BJP would not shy away from reopening the debate on the issue.