SRINAGAR, 19 April 2003 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday signaled India’s determination to resolve the five-decade-old Kashmir problem through dialogue as he extended a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan.

Addressing a large crowd at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium here amid tight security, Vajpayee regretted that India’s repeated efforts to improve ties with Pakistan had been negated by Islamabad’s stance.

Nearly 15,000 people gathered to hear Vajpayee, the first prime minister to address a public meeting in Kashmir in 16 years, despite a boycott called by separatist groups. A shutdown called by groups like the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, however, crippled normal life across the Kashmir Valley.

Speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass screen, Vajpayee assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that his government was determined to strengthen democracy in the troubled state and to speed up efforts to settle the Kashmir dispute through dialogue.

“Let the game of blood and deaths end. Fighting and guns will not solve the problem,” said Vajpayee. Vajpayee spoke in Hindi and used the words of a Kashmiri poem to drive home his message of peace.

“Guns are no solution. Guns can kill but they can’t quell a person’s hunger,” he said.

“Come and knock at our door. New Delhi will never close its doors to you. The doors of our homes and our minds will always be open for you,” he said.

“We want to reduce physical distances so that people of the country come closer to one another. That is the only way to bridge distances between hearts.”

Referring to unsuccessful efforts to engage Pakistan in a dialogue — including Vajpayee’s visit to Lahore in 1999 and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Agra in 2001 — the prime minister said New Delhi still wanted peaceful relations with its neighbors.

“We extend the hand of friendship again, but hands have to be extended from both sides,” he said. “It is time to change things.”

Vajpayee thanked the people for turning out in such large numbers to hear him.

Reminding the Kashmiri people of his pledge to hold free and fair elections in Kashmir, he said cynics had claimed that “Kashmir was a place where votes could be polled but they were always counted in favor of those already chosen”.

“I proved that wrong and Kashmiris voted for a government of their own choosing. After many years, you got the opportunity to decide your own fate. Make the best use of it,” he said, referring to the elections last year that threw up a coalition government led by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

Vajpayee extended greetings to the Kashmiris on the new year, observed across the country this week.

“It is only in India that Good Friday, Baisakhi, Nav Roz and other religious functions are observed cutting across communal lines,” Vajpayee said. He quoted a famous verse from renowned Kashmiri poet Mehjoor, in which the poet had spoken of “a new era, a new sentiment, a new spirit” to usher in peace so that the garden of Kashmir was decorated with flowers and not with blood.

Noting that the Iraq war had ended, Vajpayee said peace could not be ushered in anywhere through the barrel of the gun.

Earlier, welcoming Vajpayee, Kashmir Finance Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said: “The people have crossed a river of death and blood to come and greet you and keep Kashmir’s relations with the rest of the country alive. They have high expectations and you must meet (the expectations).”

Vajpayee inaugurated work on the ambitious four-lane north-south highway corridor that will connect the Kashmir Valley with Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the country’s southern-most tip.

But those who expected Vajpayee to announce an economic or political package for Kashmir were disappointed.

Chief Minister Sayeed, in his address, said: “Those who braved the separatist guns during the elections to vote did so for a respectable peace, for employment and for prosperity.

“Kashmiris voted to throw out a political and administrative system that had become insensitive to the problems of the people. It is not the people of Kashmir who have failed the country; it is the politicians and rulers who failed the country in Kashmir.”

He said: “I request the prime minister that our policy should be not to punish the wayward youth who lost their path and resorted to the gun. We have to win them over with love and compassion, they are our own children.”

Sayeed said the security forces must tackle militancy, but violations of human rights and civil liberties were unacceptable. Noting that Vajpayee had made several initiatives in the past for a political process based on dialogue, he urged Kashmiris to move forward to join this process.

Another highlight of Vajpayee’s visit was his inauguration of the extension of the Srinagar airport. Vajpayee said that the airport would soon be brought to the standard of international ones.

Five Killed Ahead

of Vajpayee’s Visit

Indian security forces shot dead four suspected militants in a Kashmir district to be visited by Vajpayee today, and a businessman was killed in the area, officials said.

Three of the rebels were killed yesterday in a gun battle in Yaripora village, 65 kilometers south of Srinagar, a Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said.

The slain militants are believed to be members of hard-line militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the spokesman, Tirath Achariya, said.

Lashkar is one of two groups India accuses of attacking its Parliament in December 2001, killing 15 people including five attackers.

“Three AK-47 rifles and other arms have been recovered from the encounter site by the BSF soldiers,” Achariya said. He said two of the slain militants were Pakistanis.