Ceasefire possible if violence and infiltration end : PM

tags:Politics

New Delhi:-Ahead of his talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on J&K, PM Manmohan Singh reaffirmed that borders cannot be redrawn, indicating that internal ceasefire in the state could be considered provided violence and infiltration of terrorists stop.

Standing by his statement that Musharraf, who he is meeting in New York on Wednesday, was a person he trusts and can do business with, Singh told journalists accompanying him on board the special Air India flight, which flew to Paris, that Islamabad had taken some steps to reduce violence in Jammu and Kashmir but it was too early for him to say how effective these would be.

"We have to judge the situation on the ground," he said.

India and Pakistan must work together to make borders irrelevant through people-to-people contact and border trade, Singh said.

Asked if the ground situation was ripe for an internal ceasefire, the Prime Minister replied "I have already said that once infiltration is brought under control and the associated violence is under control, we can look at anything.

"But the first thing is infiltration (from across the border) should be fully under control and violence associated with it must cease. Also for us it is necessary that the infrastructure of terrorism (on the Pakistan side) is dismantled."