NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accused Pakistan on Sunday of betraying his hand of friendship at crucial times, and said there can be no progress on their bilateral disputes without a genuine meeting of hearts between him and President Pervez Musharraf.

Vajpayee, speaking at a public meeting in the eastern town of Patna, said he did not favour the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir being turned into a permanent border as a solution to the issue of Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, an ally in Vajpayee government, has however been strenuously canvassing in recent days to turn the LoC into an international border with Pakistan.

Vajpayee appeared to be amused by Pakistan’s reported charges against Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani in which Advani has been described as an absconder in a conspiracy to assassinate Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. “To know the fact one has to go to Jinnah,” he said in a lighter vein.

Indian news channels quoted Vajpayee as saying that after losing East Pakistan in 1971, Pakistan should be able to realise the folly of staking a claim on the state of Jammu and Kashmir. “We have fought three wars but Pakistan is yet to realize that when it could not keep the people of East Bengal, despite the majority Muslim population there, it is unreasonable for it to stake its claim on Jammu and Kashmir where there is majority Hindu and Buddhist population in Jammu and Ladakh region,” Vajpayee said.

Complaining of ‘betrayal’ by Pakistan to his quest for friendly ties, he said: “I had gone to Lahore with a message of goodwill but in return we got Kargil.”

Vajpayee described as “fantastic, ridiculous and baseless” the Pakistani accusation that India had a hand in the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. “What can I say about such a baseless and ridiculous statement. I would rather describe it as fantastic.”

Referring to his handshake with Gen Musharraf during the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, Vajpayee said: “I told him we have shaken hands in the past, what we want is a meeting of hearts.”

Responding to charges that India was a bully with its neighbours, Vajpayee said: “We have very cordial relations with Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and other neighbours.”

He regretted that his advice went unheeded at the time of signing the Shimla Accord when he, while in the Opposition, had suggested that India should build pressure on Pakistan to hand over “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir” in return for 90,000 Pakistani Prisoners of War. “We had in our possession vast Pakistani land and their 90,000 PoWs and could have sought and might have even got PoK in exchange for them but the Indian government of that time paid no heed to my suggestion,” he said.

The Prime Minister rejected suggestion for conversion of the Line of Control into international border and asserted that the return of “Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir” would top the agenda of any dialogue with Pakistan whenever it resumes. “There won’t be any compromise on the LoC, I make it clear that LoC would not be converted into IB,” Vajpayee told reporters. Asked whether the return of Azad Kashmir would be a pre-condition for resumption of dialogue, Vajpayee said he had not put such a pre-condition. He said though that the return of Pakistan-administered Kashmir would top the agenda whenever the two sides resume dialogue.

He had a laugh when reminded of Gen Parvez Musharraf’s Jan 12 broadcast in which he had said “Kashmir runs in our blood”. “This is nothing but laffazi (playing with words),” he said adding: “If really Kashmir runs into the blood of Pakistan then what running on the streets of Pakistan (Khoon agar unki ragon mein daur raha hai to wahan ki sarkon par keya daurta hai)?”

Vajpayee also warned the Indian opposition parties that there was an undeclared state of emergency prevailing in the country due to the stand-off with Pakistan. “Emergency situations demand emergency measures. We cannot continue to haggle infinitely over the price of military equipment when the country’s sovereignty is at stake,” Vajpayee said in an apparent reference to the recent controversy about over-priced coffins for the fallen soldiers of Kargil.

“An undeclared emergency situation prevails in the country with India and Pakistan engaging in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation on the border. I urge the Opposition parties not to raise contentious security-related issues as it adversely affects the morale of the armed forces,” he said.