Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Support our Journalism

9th Anniversary: Free Tote & Mug

Must hold govts accountable for terrorism originating from their countries: Vajpayee on 9/11

Three days after the 9/11 attacks, PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the nation, strongly condemning the terrorist attacks and expressing solidarity with the people of the US.

My dear countrymen, As you know, terrorists have struck yet another blow – at the United States of America, at humanity, at the civilized way of life.

But I have not the slightest doubt about the eventual outcome. Democracies, open, free and plural societies shall prevail.

Our prayers rise for those who have been killed. Our hearts go out to those who have lost their loved ones. Every Indian feels for them.

More than that, at least fifty three thousand families in India know exactly the pain they are going through at the moment: for terrorists have mowed down and blown up that number here in India over the last two decades.

For years we in India have been alerting others to the fact that terrorism is a scourge for all of humanity, that what happens in Mumbai one day is bound to happen elsewhere tomorrow, that the poison that propels mercenaries and terrorists to kill and maim in Jammu and Kashmir will impel the same sort to blow up people elsewhere.

In the Address I had delivered at the joint meeting of the United States Congress a year ago, I had said,

“Many of you here in the Congress have in recent hearings recognised a stark fact – no region is a greater source of terrorism than our neighbourhood. Indeed, in our neighbourhood – in this, the 21st Century – religious war has not just been fashioned into, it has been proclaimed to be, an instrument of State policy. Distance offers no insulation. It should not cause complacence. You know, and I know – such evil cannot succeed. But even in failing it could inflict untold suffering. That is why the United States and India have begun to deepen their cooperation for combating terrorism. We must redouble these........

© ThePrint