Kashmir 'integral part of India'

Indian forces remain deployed along the ceasefire line

By Sanjoy Majumder BBC News Online Delhi correspondent

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has renewed his call for Pakistan to accept Indian rule in Kashmir.

In a New Year's Eve message, he said Pakistan seemed unprepared to accept that the state of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and would always remain so.

Let our two countries agree to promote beneficial trade and economic ties, strengthen cultural relations, and encourage greater people-to-people contacts

Atal Behari Vajpayee

For the past several years, he said, Islamabad had surrendered to the temptation to target India with terrorism, inspired by religious extremism.

Mr Vajpayee also used his message to play down fears about Hindu nationalist ideology, saying it did not threaten India's secular traditions.

Promoting ties

The prime minister sent his message from the western coastal state of Goa, where he is on holiday.

"Pakistan cannot fight religious extremism and modernise itself as long as it chooses to be in a position of permanent confrontation with India," he said.

He called on Pakistan to stop "cross-border terrorism" and abandon "its insistence on the centrality of the Kashmir issue".

The two countries should agree to promote mutually beneficial economic ties, strengthen greater cultural ties and encourage contact between their citizens, Mr Vajpayee said.

He also said that an amicable resolution of the Kashmir situation lay in creating a tension-free and co-operative environment.

Diversity

Mr Vajpayee also chose to comment on what he described as the intense and sometimes controversial debate on the theme of India's unity in diversity, particularly in the wake of the recent Gujarat elections.

Mr Vajpayee: Hindu nationalism does not threaten secularism

The belief that Hindutva (Hindu nationalist ideology) was antithetical to secularism was incorrect and untenable, since India had been secular since the beginning of her known history, according to the prime minister.

"Our diversity is as much a source of India's greatness - and of Indians' pride in their nation - as her antiquity.

"Living with diversity, and yet weaving a thread of unity and harmony through it, has been a way of life throughout India since time immemorial," he said.

Mr Vajpayee called on Indians living in India and abroad to celebrate and strengthen their Indian-ness.

"Indians would have to strengthen the spirit of nationalism and use it to inspire and motivate their endeavours, including ending poverty and unemployment, illiteracy and disease, poor shelter and sanitation," he said.