People to people contact between India and Pakistan is all right but there should be a zero tolerance for terrorism from across the border, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani said here on Monday.
“Terrorism and dialogue should be linked...we should insist that there would be dialogue only if terror infrastructure (across the border) is dismantled,” Mr. Advani said.
He was speaking at a “Face-The-Press” programme, a joint initiative of the Press Club, Mumbai, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Government Watch (GW), to debate issues of national interest with leading politicians, journalists, economists and activists.
To a query on saffron terrorism, Mr. Advani said terrorism should not be tagged to any particular religion.
“Terrorism in India began from Punjab and was managed by the neighbouring country,” he said.
Vouching for the veracity of diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on the ‘cash—for—vote’ issue, Mr. Advani said “We say, accept facts in the cable as true.”
Mr. Advani answered questions from a panel of leading journalists, including The Hindu ‘s Editor-in-Chief N. Ram, Star India Chief Executive Officer Uday Shankar and Kumar Ketkar of the Dainik Bhaskar Group.
When Mr. Ketkar pointed out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have apologised for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots but BJP had not for the post-Godhra communal conflagration, Mr. Advani said “I have apologised. Riots can’t be justified.”
