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India still ready for joint surveillance of LoC: Fernandes

Asserting that terrorism emanating from Pakistan continues in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister George Fernandes on Monday said India is still sticking to its proposal for joint patrolling with Pakistan of the Line of Control to stop infiltration.

"We are still ready for joint surveillance of the LoC," Fernandes, who is on a three-day visit to Japan, said in Tokyo.

But to realise it, Fernandes said there would first have to be 'a certain level of understanding' between the two sides as well as 'confidence with each other on the borders'.

"It will take some time before confidence-building measures can be brought into action...because we have our troops on our side, they have their troops on the other side. They are looking at each other not as friends, not as people having trust in each other," he said, according to Kyodo news agency.

Pakistan has dismissed the suggestion as 'unworkable'. Cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Fernades said, continued despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's 'solemn promise' conveyed to US President George W Bush in early June that he would put a 'permanent' stop to infiltration and close down militant training camps.

After that promise, India had initially acknowledged a decrease in the infiltration of militants across the LoC.

But Fernandes said, "We discovered that in mid-June once again terrorism got on the upswing, and what we now have are ups and downs -- there isn't any complete end to terrorism and one never knows when it crops up again."

Terrorism Strikes in Jammu and Kashmir: The complete coverage

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