New Delhi: With Ayodhya expected to occupy centre stage in the Budget session of Parliament, President A P J Abdul Kalam on February 17 asked political parties and religious leaders to accept court verdict on the issue.

"While the judiciary should expedite its work and give an early verdict, it is also necessary for political parties, religious leaders and eminent social personalities to promote an atmosphere of mutual understanding, goodwill and accommodation," Kalam said in his first address to the joint sitting of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session.

Government had repeatedly made it clear that the Ayodhya dispute could be resolved either through negotiations between the two communities or through a verdict of the judiciary, which had to be accepted by all concerned, the President said in his address.

Noting that the national security was a matter of highest priority for his government, Kalam said, "After the December 13 attack on our Parliament by Pakistan- based terrorists, we were constrained to deploy our troops along the international border.

"This decision achieved its purpose by showing both our firmness and our self- restraint in dealing with our hostile neighbour," he said, adding in October last year, the government, after careful deliberation, decided to strategically redeploy the armed forces from their positions.

This, he asserted, was done without compromising on their capacity to respond decisively to any emergency and without lowering their vigil in Jammu and Kashmir.

The President said a comprehensive nuclear doctrine had now been put in place and "this places the ultimate control of our strategic assets in the hands of the civilian political executive.

"The country is truly proud of the scientists, engineers and staff of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the successful test firing of Agni- 1 missile," he said and listed DRDO's other accomplishments including Pinaka, the indigenously developed area weapon system and the supersonic missile BRAHMOS, jointly developed with Russia, which had been successfully flight tested.

Kalam said continued incidents of cross-border terrorism in 2002 again underscored that the chief threat to India's internal security was external. "The killings of innocent men, women and children; the choice of members of the families of security personnel as special targets; the attack on pilgrims – all this showed that there was a method in the madness of Pakistan-supported terrorist violence," he said.

This method, however, did not succeed as "our people maintained calm even in the face of provocative attacks on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar and the Raghunath Temple in Jammu.

"However, we must continue to be vigilant against an adversary, which is unwilling to give up its anti-India stand," he said.

Accusing Pakistan of not fulfilling its assurances on the issue of cross-border terrorism, Kalam said the infrastructure of terrorist groups remained intact there and the funding of terrorist groups continued.

On the formation of a new government in Jammu and Kashmir, the President said the Centre was fully committed to working closely with it in its efforts to bring peace, normalcy and economic development in the state.

The Prime Minister had announced projects and schemes worth over Rs 6,000 crore covering various aspects of development and security with a thrust on generation of new employment opportunities for the youth and relief for migrants affected by militancy and cross-border shelling.

PTI