NEW DELHI, 16 August 2003 — “How much more blood shall we spill?” Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee posed this question emphasizing the need to establish friendly relations with Pakistan while addressing the nation on the occasion of the 57th Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort after unfurling the national flag yesterday.

Vajpayee called on Pakistan to walk on the road of peace but said Islamabad must end what he called cross-border terrorism.

“On the occasion of our Independence Day anniversaries, I invite Pakistan to join us on the road for peace,” he said.

“The path ahead is rocky, there are minefields, but if we work together, the obstacles will go away,” Vajpayee said from within a three-sided cabin of bulletproof glass. “We have been fighting for 50 years, how much more blood shall we spill?”

Last year, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan came close to waging their fourth war since independence from Britain in 1947 after an attack on the Indian Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants fighting its rule in disputed Kashmir.

The two countries restored diplomatic ties and bus links after Vajpayee vowed in April to make a final drive for peace.

“We have made some progress in normalizing ties, but terrorist incidents are still going on. Is our neighbor willing to completely halt cross-border terrorism? That will be the test of its sincerity,” Vajpayee said.

Hundreds of VIPs sheltering under umbrellas and school children in raincoats gathered outside the Red Fort for Vajpayee’s speech. Vajpayee promised to launch cellular telephones within a week in Kashmir and said he would visit the disputed region later this month.

“I had gone to Srinagar a few months ago. This month, I will again go there,” Vajpayee said. Vajpayee announced that long-awaited mobile telephone facilities would be launched in the restive state “next week.”

In Srinagar, Vajpayee’s announcement was greeted with joy and even state Cabinet ministers appeared excited.

India will send an unmanned mission to the moon by 2008, Vajpayee said, in what is seen as an effort to showcase the country’s scientific capabilities.

“India is ready to take a big leap in science. I am happy to announce that before 2008 India will send a mission to the moon,” he said.

“It will be called ‘Chandrayan Pratham’ (First Journey to the Moon),” he said. The mission is expected to cost New Delhi about $80 million.

Vajpayee took potshots at hard-liners in his ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party, calling their rightwing ideologies harmful to the nation.

Vajpayee did not name his party or identify individual BJP hard-liners but said his coalition government must care for India’s minority communities.

“India is a multi-religious nation. It is against both its nature and culture to practice discrimination or to do injustice to anybody on the grounds of faith,” Vajpayee said.

“We should always care for the minorities and be attentive toward their welfare... and those who wish to divide the society on the basis of religion, caste or community are doing harm to the country,” he said.

Thousands of people turned out for the Indian Independence Day ceremony in a heavily guarded football stadium in Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar, for the first time since the revolt took off in late 1989, Indian authorities said.

“We have no fear,” said Gulzar Said, 30, one of many villagers brought to the stadium by local officials in buses and under tight security. But in Badgam district, south of Srinagar, 19 pedestrians were wounded yesterday when a grenade hurled at a police patrol missed the target and exploded on the road, police said.

Elsewhere in Kashmir, two militants, three soldiers and a civilian were killed in separate incidents since Thursday evening.

Peace talks between the longtime rivals remain on hold because of New Delhi’s insistence that Islamabad stop what it calls the flow of guerrillas into Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is at the heart of more than half a century of animosity.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of “cross-border terrorism” by backing militant attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and police were on high alert across the country for the Independence Day celebrations amid fears of militant violence.

Roadblocks and checkpoints were set up across New Delhi, sharpshooters were posted on high-rise buildings around the Red Fort and an area of 300 square km (116 sq mile) was declared a no-fly zone for a few hours for the official ceremonies.