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| PM wishes Pak success in tackling terror |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Oct 30, 2009, 11:16 IST |
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Seeking a neighbourhood of peace, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today wished Pakistan, grappling with many internal problems, success in tackling terrorism.
Reaching out to Pakistan for the third consecutive day, Singh said destinies of the two countries and that of other South Asian countries were closely interlinked.
"Pakistan is grappling with many internal problems. Rise of terrorism is one of them. I wish them success (in combating terrorism)," Singh said addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.
On Wednesday, Singh had in Srinagar renewed India's hand of friendship with Pakistan and followed it up yesterday, saying there were no pre-conditions for holding dialogue but made it clear that cross-border terrorism has to end from the country.
The Prime Minister focussed on the need for a strong South Asia and said India "sincerely wishes" to resolve all outstanding issues with its neighbours through dialogue.
"India will be happy to extend a helpful and supportive hand to all its neighbours," he said.
At the same time, Singh emphasised the need for leadership in the region which has the courage to take bold decisions.
"We should not allow our past to limit our future," Singh said at the two-day summit.
"To paraphrase Rabindra Tagore, we must not allow narrow domestic walls to confine us to the deadly sand of dead habits. Instead, we should dip into the clear stream of reason and walk forward into ever-widening thought and action so that we can build not just a new India by 2020 but a new South Asia," he said.
Prime Minister was asked about China extending its influence in the neighbourhood, including Nepal and Pakistan, and whether India's armed forces were prepared to deal with the situation. "I think security concerns are the primary responsibility of every civilised country and you have my assurance that we will and we have been paying adequate attention to protect and preserve the security of our country," he said.
On India's relations with China, Singh said that he had more than one occasion noted that both the countries have immense opportunities to work together in cooperation.
"(This is) because there is ample space in the world to accommodate the growth ambitions of both India and China. We have problems of border but we have also agreed that pending the resolution of the boundary questions, peace and tranquillity should prevail along the border and entire," he said.
The Prime Minister was asked whether the government was divided on the issue of tackling Maoists with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly going on a different track as far as West Bengal was concerned.
"We are a functional democracy. There are occasions when there are differences of opinion among various leaders of our own coalition. But let there be no doubt that law and order is the primary responsibility of every civilised state.
"Whatever comes in the way to maintain and enforce law and order, it will be dealt with as it ought to be. The India of tomorrow cannot be built from New Delhi alone. We require the active cooperation of state governments...We will help the states regardless of their political complexion," Singh said.
The Prime Minister, who will be the first state guest under Barack Obama administration when he travels to the US next month, also spoke about the importance of the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation and described former US president George W Bush as a "great friend of India".
"We in India recognise the important he (Bush) played in the fruition of the civil nuclear cooperation initiative. We are working with our international partners to give a boost to our nuclear power programme," he said adding this would be an important contribution to efforts to use to cleaner fuels and thus combat climate change.
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