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Our Correspondent in Srinagar
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday said the time has come for a decisive battle (against Pakistan).
Addressing armymen in Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, Vajpayee said, "We want peace and India to be prosperous, but are forced to fight a war. We will win this war. Let there be no doubt about it."
Close to 1000 soldiers were called from the LoC to hear Vajpayee's speech.
Without naming Pakistan in his speech, Vajpayee said, "We tried all kind of peace efforts with our neighbour, but nothing worked with them."
Referring to the Kargil war of 1999, he said, "They tried to capture our land but failed miserably. In the last 54 years whenever war was forced upon us, we have retaliated and won."
"They did not take even the dead bodies of their soldiers after the Kargil war. But we gave them respect and buried them," Vajpayee added.
"The enemy (Pakistan) does not fight us (directly). They are fighting a proxy war. They are preparing young men to fight in the name of jihad. They are employing mercenaries and do not come in front of us," he said.
Vajpayee also said there was a limit to India's tolerance of the proxy war it was facing (from Pakistan).
"Nobody should think that the threshold of our tolerance has no limit," he said.
"The world understands that we have been wronged, but they are not coming out with their views openly. Hence we have to defend ourselves," he said.
"My arrival here is indicative of something. Whether our neighbour understand it or not, whether the world takes note of it or not, but the history will record that we will write a new chapter of victory... there is no doubt about it," he said.
Referring to the Kaluchak killing, he asked, "What kind of fight or struggle is this where mothers and children are massacred?"
The prime minister also praised the army saying the entire nation is behind them in their endeavour to guard the country's borders.
With inputs from PTI
Related Report: Vajpayee arrives in Srinagar, Security tight
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