New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on May 8 dismissed an Opposition suggestion for India and Pakistan coming together to form a confederation.

"A confederation of the two countries is not possible," Vajpayee said replying to a short-duration discussion on Indo-Pak ties in the Lok Sabha.

He was responding to a suggestion made by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

When Yadav intervened and said a friendship between the two countries was not possible without joining in a confederation, Vajpayee said, "That may be your perception."

He, however, said countries of the world were coming together and even Eastern European nations, which were part of the erstwhile Soviet Bloc, were joining the European Union.

Replying to the discussion on Indo-Pak situation, Vajpayee said, "Pakistan has to stop cross-border terrorism and dismantle terrorist infrastructure existing in that country."

Vajpayee said the US "aggression" on Iraq and people's victory in Jammu and Kashmir, though different issues, were linked to each other.

The way Iraq was attacked without UN sanction, it was felt that developing and small countries including those which are non-aligned needed to ponder about their future.

Observing that terrorists are not under the control of any one entity and that they too were divided having politics of their own, he said these considerations also needed to be factored in.

Noting that India had not yet begun talks with Pakistan, he said, "Only the preparatory work is on."

PTI