'Pakistan must reciprocate to normalise ties with India'

JAMMU: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday asked Pakistan to "reciprocate" to normalise relations with India as it also realises the dangers of terrorism.

"There cannot be a clap with one hand only," he said expressing India's desire to normalise relations with Pakistan but "it would have to reciprocate".

Without directly mentioning the storming of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Singh cautioned Pakistan about the dangers of terrorism and said "Pakistan too is well aware of this".

India would not succumb before terrorism and fight it with full vigour though the doors of talks would remain open to all to bring about peace in Jammu and Kashmir, he told a delegation of Congress parliamentarians, legislators and corporators at Raj Bhavan here.

Singh described Jammu and Kashmir as a special state that symbolised the country's "pluralistic ethos" and said the Centre was keen to ensure its development.

Several initiatives had been taken in this regard and the fruits of development would percolate down soon, he said and praised the stewardship of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was present at the function, for giving a "new dimension" to the development scenario.

Singh also urged party workers to rededicate themselves to the good of the masses given that the assembly elections were due next year.

"We must be in a position to say with pride that Congress has been providing a dispensation with difference," he said.