Ensure territory not used by terrorists, Manish Tewari tells Pakistan

NEW DELHI: The crossing over of terrorists and non-state actors into India from Pakistan suggested either complicity or negligence on the part of Pakistani authorities, I&B minister Manish Tewari said today while calling upon the neigbhouring country to ensure that its territory was not used for such activities.

"The government of India has put its concerns on record. It is extremely unfortunate that Pakistan is allowing its territory to be used by non-state actors because, obviously, these terrorists or non-state actors are not coming out of a vacuum.

"If they are crossing the LoC or the international border, it is obviously due to the complicity of Pakistani authorities or complete negligence on their part. In both cases, they are equally culpable," Tewari told reporters.

He added that that it would be worthwhile for Pakistan to introspect and ensure that its territory was not used for such activities as it was totally detrimental to stability and peace in south Asia.

Tewari, who was speaking at the release of a policy paper on Afghanistan by the India Policy Group, also rejected any parallels being drawn between the current military operation in Keran of Jammu and Kashmir with other such episodes.

"In the case of Kargil, there was an intrusion which was subsequently detected and India had to engage in a border war to expel the intruders, which cost the lives of many Indian soldiers.

"In this particular instance, the Indian establishment has been more than vigilant. Even as the intruders came in or the alleged intruders came in, they were detected... and neutralised," he said.

Earlier, speaking at the launch of the policy paper, Tewari said that there was a need to ensure the nature of the Afghan state stayed pluralistic and secular and represented the entire ethnic and demographic composition of the country.