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My dear
fellow countrymen, joyous New Year greetings to all of you. To our
brave jawans, security forces, and policemen guarding our borders and
vital installations; to our hard-working kisans who have ensured our
food security; to our workers and managers who, with their sweat and
toil, are making India an economic power; to our talented software
professionals who have burnished India's image abroad; to our children
and youth, who are the future of our nation; indeed, to every Indian
who in his or her own way is contributing to nation-building, I wish
happiness and prosperity in the New Year.
I also send my felicitations to all Non-Resident Indians and persons
of Indian origin, who, despite the distance in space and time that
separates them from us, have maintained unbreakable social, cultural,
spiritual, and emotional ties with India.
We leave an eventful
year behind us, a year of many trials and tribulations - amongst them
the earthquake in Gujarat at the beginning of the year and the
terrorist attack on our Parliament at the end of the year. We faced
all of them with courage and self-confidence. As we begin our journey
in 2002, it is time for all of us together to resolve that we shall
grow further in fortitude; that our belief in ourselves shall be
further steeled to take on even stiffer challenges that may confront
us in the New Year.
Today, let us pledge that our motherland shall emerge stronger -in
national security, which is of supreme importance, and in development
that betters the life of those of our brethren who continue to be
victims of poverty and neglect.
It is said that time's ways are inscrutable. This may be true in the
life of individuals, not in a nation's life. True, we cannot predict
what may happen to our individual destinies. But, in my mind, there is
no uncertainty whatsoever about India's destiny.
India is marching towards a bright future. We have our share of
problems. But these cannot hide the brightness on the horizon. It will
be a future free of poverty and all other vestiges of
underdevelopment. Indeed, the level of poverty is coming down; and the
day is not far when every region, every community, and every citizen
in our country shall enjoy the fruits of India's prosperity and
progress. If we want, and if we act unitedly to get what we want, then
this energising goal can be achieved within the span of a generation.
But the future I see is not only one of a prosperous India, free of
fear and free of want. In recent years, the world has come to look at
India with renewed respect, recognising a strong and prosperous global
power in the making. I have no doubt that India in the foreseeable
future will begin to play a decisive role in global affairs, not to
advance any partisan agenda at the expense of others but to protect
and promote mankind's most cherished universal ideals. It is also a
future when the fabled richness of India's culture, arts, intellectual
exploration, and spiritual pursuit will begin to show its full
radiance, bringing much succor to the troubled spirit of the modern
man.
Is this a dream? Yes. Is it an impossible dream? No, it is not.
Nations achieve greatness when their people learn to dream lofty
dreams and to strive hard - and make sacrifices, when necessary - to
realise those dreams, without getting disheartened by the difficulties
along the way and without ever letting their faith in their nation's
destiny falter.
I am reminded here of the inspiring vision of Maharshi Aurobindo,
which he set out in his historic radio broadcast for August 15, 1947.
"I have always held and said that India was arising, not to serve
her own material interests only, to achieve expansion, greatness,
power, and prosperity certainly not like others to acquire domination
of other peoples, but to live also for God and the world as a helper
and leader of the whole human race."
This, I believe, is the quintessence of India's work, now and in the
future. Different leaders of modern India have presented the same
vision in different words. In the five-and-a-half decades since
Independence, we have made definite progress in realising a part of
this vision, although there is a need to introspect on why our
achievement has not been greater, faster, and more egalitarian. But
let us not get bogged down in the issues and debates of yesterday. Now
we must hasten our march forward, correcting the mistakes of the past
but always keeping our eyes fixed firmly on where we want India to be
in the future.
It often happens that the road to the future is rendered difficult by
roadblocks placed by the past. One such roadblock for us, indeed the
biggest, is Pakistan's consistent and continuing anti-India policy,
beginning with its refusal to accept the constitutionally validated
and democratically endorsed accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.
For a long time, the rulers in Islamabad relied on military
confrontation, as exemplified by the wars they waged in 1948, 1965,
and 1971, to settle this issue in their favour.
After failing abjectly in their endeavor, the anti-India forces in
Pakistan decided to foment terrorism and religious extremism as the
principal means to instigate separatism in our country. I must say
that they are nursing a dangerous delusion. What they could not
achieve through open military aggression, they never will achieve
through cross-border terrorism.
They failed miserably in their evil designs in Punjab. Terrorism bled
Punjab; but, in the end, it fled Punjab. It could not dent Hindu-Sikh
unity. Similarly, the terrorists and their mentors are doomed to fail
in Jammu & Kashmir, too.
However, the very certainty of failure is driving them, in
desperation, to embrace a more dangerous agenda. The terrorist attack
on our Parliament on December 13 has shown beyond a shadow of doubt
that the anti-India forces in Pakistan are prepared to wreak any havoc
on our soil. It was an attack on our sovereignty, on our national
self-respect, and it was a challenge to our democratic system.
Although India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the
past nearly two decades and has lost tens of thousands of innocent men
and women and security forces, the outrage of December 13 has breached
the limit of the nation's endurance. That the terrorists who stormed
the precincts of Parliament failed in their core objective, thanks to
the exemplary alertness and bravery of our security forces, some of
whom laid down their lives in the call of their duty, cannot diminish
the diabolical nature of the conspiracy hatched by their mentors
across the border. It is useful to presume that more such terrorist
strikes can take place. The only way to defend ourselves against such
attacks is by forcing Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism. And
this precisely is the objective we have set ourselves in our current
multi-pronged strategy.
The many political and diplomatic steps we have taken after December
13 are a part of this strategy. As I have said earlier, India does not
want war. India has never been an aggressor in her long history. But
we have a sovereign right to defend ourselves against cross-border
terrorism, which is a proxy war that is already thrust on us. Pakistan
will be solely responsible for the consequences of encouraging
terrorism against India and, when expedient, turning a blind eye to
terrorist groups with trans-national linkages operating from its soil.
Today I also wish to share a thought with the people of Pakistan and,
indeed, with all the right-thinking persons in its ruling
establishment. It is unfortunate that anti-India forces in Pakistan
have been allowed to play with fire, apparently with no thought given
to what this fire can do to Pakistan itself. I have heard and read
many perceptive Pakistanis express serious concern over their
government's appeasement of terrorism fueled by religious extremism.
They have voiced alarm over how Pakistan's social fabric and its
institutions have been grievously affected by its government's policy
of creating and systematically promoting the Taliban, ostensibly to
gain "strategic depth" in Afghanistan and a "force
multiplier" for its anti-India campaign in Jammu & Kashmir.
The fate of the first game plan has already been sealed. The fate of
the second will be no different. Taliban and Al-Qaeda are not merely
the names of organisations. They stand for an aberrant mental outlook
and a highly regressive socio-political agenda, which rejects the
ideals of pluralism, secularism, freedom, and democracy and has no
respect even for national boundaries. For the pursuit of its goal to
establish global hegemony, it considers the use of terrorism
domestically as well as its aggressive export to countries near and
far entirely legitimate.
Like you, I too often wonder: Why do some people choose the path of
terrorism? Why do they kill, and are ready to be killed? How are they
able to create a religious frenzy in support of terrorism, when no
religion sanctions terrorism? One can understand if some persons,
dissatisfied with the prevailing state of affairs or angered by a
sense of injustice or deprivation, want to establish a different
social order that they consider is more just and would benefit more
people.
There is nothing wrong with such striving. Indeed, humanity has
progressed through the struggles of such idealists. But where the path
of the terrorist diverges sharply from that of the idealist and the
revolutionary is in the choice of the means he employs. Because of his
murderous ways, his intolerance, and his extremism, he expels himself
from the pale of humanity and descends to barbarism. To allow such
barbarians to succeed even partially, even in a single corner of the
world, is to invite danger for the whole civilised humanity.
Which is why India stood firmly behind the international coalition's
support to the United States' war on terror in Afghanistan following
the horrendous terrorist attacks of September 11 in New York and
Washington. The leadership of Pakistan took a commendable decision to
join the international coalition against terrorism in Afghanistan,
although it meant a drastic U-turn in their policy of support to the
Taliban regime. But what was their real intention? If it was the same
as that of the international community -- namely, to root out
terrorism and extremism -- then I extend my hand of alliance to them.
I wish to tell them: "Shed your anti-India mentality and take
effective steps to stop cross-border terrorism, and you will find
India willing to walk more than half the distance to work closely with
Pakistan to resolve, through dialogue, any issue, including the
contentious issue of Jammu & Kashmir."
In my Musings from Kumarakom last year, I had affirmed: "In our
search for a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem, both in its
external and internal dimensions, we shall not traverse solely on the
beaten track of the past. Rather, we shall be bold and innovative
designers of a future architecture of peace and prosperity for the
entire South Asian region."
I continue to remain wedded to this commitment. My bus journey to
Lahore earlier in February 1999, my invitation to President Pervez
Musharraf to come to Agra in July for summit talks, and our
oft-extended "ceasefire" in Jammu & Kashmir are a
testimony to India's sincere, bold, and innovative search for peace.
This search continued even after the betrayal in Kargil. Our efforts
will be further intensified, if Pakistan demonstrates its matching
sincerity to have peace with India.
Together, let us leave the past of futile hostilities behind us and
embrace a future free of tension and full of mutually beneficial
possibilities. The common enemy that both our countries face is
poverty, illiteracy, disease, and unemployment. Terrorism and
extremism cannot solve any of these problems. They can only further
delay their solution. Therefore, let us join hands to fight this enemy
and, along with other countries in South Asia, make our region a land
of peace, plenty, and all-round progress. This is the challenge of the
new year and of the new century. Let us accept it in a spirit of
cooperation.
However, if the intention of Pakistan's leadership is to continue to
promote, or condone, cross-border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir as
a matter of state policy, while maintaining that they are one with the
world in rooting out terrorism in Afghanistan, then the international
community will judge this position to be opportunistic. It will
conclude that Pakistan, far from being a part of the solution, will
remain a part of the problem itself.
It is for Pakistan to make the right choice. After what happened on
December 13, we have made certain legitimate demands of the government
of Pakistan. Its sincerity to fight terrorism will be determined by
its positive response to these demands. We also hope that our friends
in the international community will bring requisite pressure on
Pakistan to give up its double standards on terrorism.
Dear fellow countrymen, the situation we are facing is unprecedented.
I would like you to be prepared for any eventuality. I would also like
you to realise that the battle against terrorism will necessarily be a
long one. One should neither expect a quick and painless victory nor
despair if more terrorist strikes take place. Today my heart goes out
to our jawans, security forces, and police personnel who are doing
their duty in difficult conditions, so that all of us can sleep
soundly and go about our normal lives. But let us also recognise that,
in some ways, every citizen is a soldier in this war against
terrorism. Like them, let us be disciplined and ever-vigilant. Like
them, let us also be prepared to make sacrifices -- sacrifice of our
leisure, sacrifice of our comforts, sacrifice of our riches, and, if
necessary, sacrifice of our lives.
I am sure that all of us will work harder than before to keep our
economy and our civic services fighting fit. I know that, as during
the previous wars, our citizens will gladly bear hardships if the
government has to take certain temporary measures to support our
effort. Our people have shown the fist of unity at the time of every
crisis in the past. I am confident that you will do it again, and not
allow any other issue to come between us and our goal. And that goal
is India's victory -- a decisive victory -- in our supremely just
struggle. We shall triumph against terrorism -- to defend India, to
defend humanity. Let this be every Indian's New Year resolve. May the
Almighty give us strength to redeem this resolve.
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