New Delhi: The world community should realise that the epicentre of international terrorism has now shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan and global efforts should be made to fight this, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said on October 1.

"I want the world Democracies to understand that the epicentre of terrorism, which was in Afghanistan before the September 11 terror strikes, has now shifted to Pakistan," Advani said in his address at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) function in New Delhi to observe 'Anti-terrorism day'.

The more the world community becomes aware of the menace, "more will be the pressure on Pakistan", he said, adding that, "Whosoever created the Frankenstein is bound to be affected by the monster".

"We recently saw how President Pervez Musharraf unfurled the Pakistani flag inside the closed doors on the occasion of their Independence day," Advani said.

Asserting that India would wage its own war against terrorism, he said, "We do not have to wait for any other country to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. We are already waging a war. The war is on. We do not have to depend on others in this".

He said the Western powers earlier used to ask New Delhi to exercise restraint, "but today they don't talk about it. They tell us that they understand our position. What they tell us now is that if the present leadership in Pakistan goes, then whoever will come could be more dangerous".

"Terrorism adopted as a policy by one state against another is war by other means. This has changed the concept of fighting a war. Pakistan may not have declared an open war against us, but the war is on," the Deputy Prime Minister said while referring to the terrorist attacks on Parliament, J&K Assembly and now Akshardham temple in Gujarat.

He said unlike in the past, internal security situation today "is not affected by factors inside the country, but those outside. The biggest threat to internal security emanates from outside".

Advani said the "only change" in the terrorism situation was that now Islamabad was not being able to recruit local people and "depending overwhelmingly on foreign mercenaries".

He quoted an Australian scholar on the issue as saying that the major sources of global terrorism were Taleban, al-Qaida and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Advani said the expert had pointed out that if the US had heeded to the warnings of slain Afghan General Ahmed Shah Masood that "Pakistan was creating a potent geo-political instrument in Afghanistan to further its regional ambitions", World Trade Centre (WTC) attack could not have occurred. But Masood was killed in a suicide attack two days before 9/11.

PTI