India's Patience Running out: Indian Prime Minister

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 27, 2002

India's Patience Running out: Indian Prime Minister

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Under pressure from world leaders to exercise restraint, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Sunday that there was limit to India's patience and that Pakistan must take actions to stop cross-border terrorism against his country.

"We have to take care of our security. The international community should understand that there is a limit to India's patience," Vajpayee told a public rally in Manali, a hill resort of the north Himachal state some 350 kilometers north of here, where he is on holiday.

The Indian leader made the statement in the wake of calls by world leaders including United States President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Canadian Premier Jeam Christian urging New Delhi to exercise restraint over its intense relations with Islamabad.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Vajpayee said in his 20-minute speech that India was waiting as to how much the efforts of the international community (to persuade Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism) would succeed.

Vajpayee told his audience that India should have really responded after the attack on Indian parliament last December but at that time the whole world condemned the strike and urged India to be patient.

He termed the situation along the tense Indo-Pakistan border as serious, saying that when the world was having a united fight against terrorism, the one aimed and abetted by Pakistan against India must stop too.

The prime minister appealed to the people to be united at this "critical juncture" and help his government to fight the menace.

"All political parties have extended support to the government in its fight against terrorism which has to be crushed. Troops are in eyeball-to-eyeball and the nation needs sacrifices," Vajpayee was quoted as saying.

"We have successfully met challenges and we will win the war against terrorism," he stressed.

He regretted that the promises made by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in his speech last January to combat terrorism were not implemented.

Earlier on Sunday, Vajpayee reviewed security scenario along the Indo-Pakistan border with his Defense Minister George Fernandes, who briefed him on the latest developments on the ground in forward areas of the international border and the line of control in Kashmir.

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