"Terrorism is terrorism wherever it occurs".... Really??? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

[Francisco Javier Bernal]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- [The only thing I like of CWB is that, at least, he's not so hypocritical as this "human being": We all remember how well did he choose in 1999]    Choose politics not terror, Blair tells leaders By Kate Kelland BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair says "only politics, not terror" can solve the tense stand-off between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir. In a speech in India, Blair said Kashmir would be high on the agenda of his talks with leaders of India and Pakistan in the coming days, and he urged them to move toward dialogue. "One thing is clear -- only politics, not terror, can solve issues like this," he said. Blair said the starting point of any dialogue must be "total and absolute rejection" of terrorism. "Terrorism is terrorism wherever it occurs," he said. "The indiscriminate and deliberate murder of civilians to cause chaos and mutilation defiles any political cause." Relations between the two countries have nose-dived since an attack on the Indian parliament on December 13 in which 14 people were killed. New Delhi blames the attack on two Pakistan-based militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Since then, India and Pakistan have reinforced their border forces in the biggest such build-up in 15 years. The two countries, which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, have scaled back diplomatic ties and cut cross-border transport services. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf joined other regional leaders on Saturday at a summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. The leaders shook hands at the start of the conference, taking place in Kathmandu. "CALMING INFLUENCE" Welcoming Blair to his country, Indian minister for information technology and parliamentary affairs Pramod Mahajan, suggested that it was Pakistan, not India, which would benefit from the "calming influence" Blair has said he wants to have on the two nations. "People say that you have come to cool us down," he said. "We have been cool enough for 50 years." Referring to the global coalition against terror that Blair has helped build since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Mahajan said: "There cannot be one set of rules for one and another set of rules for another. And mentioning Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of Pakistani-based Kashmiri militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad which India blames for the attack on its parliament, the minister added: "There cannot be one rule for Mullah Omar (the leader of Afghanistan's fallen Taliban regime), and another for Maulana Azhar." "AN ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY ITSELF" Blair slammed the "appalling" attack on the Indian parliament, saying such acts were the work of "fanatics". "I view an attack on your parliament with every bit as much outrage as I would an attack on the parliament in which I sit," he said. "It was an attack on democracy itself." After visiting Bangalore in southern India, Blair was to head to Hyderabad in central India and then onto New Delhi on Sunday for talks with the Indian Prime Minister before travelling to Pakistan. Blair has warned that tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad could erupt into a wider conflict that would threaten the stability of the whole world. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://TOPICA.COM/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================