United Nations: In one of the strongest attacks on Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on September 25 termed President Pervez Musharraf's offer of cessation of violence in Kashmir as an admission of sponsoring terrorism and bluntly told him India would not negotiate with terrorism or allow it to become a tool of blackmail.

In a virtual new position, he said India can have a dialogue with Pakistan on the "other issues" when cross-border terrorism stops "or when we can eradicate it".

Hitting back at Musharraf, who has been raking up the Kashmir issue in various platforms, Vajpayee in his address to the UN General Assembly said the Pakistan leader on September 25 chose this august Assembly to make a "public admission for the first time that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir".

"After claiming that there is an indigenous struggle in Kashmir, he has offered to encourage a general cessation of violence within Kashmir, in return for reciprocal obligations and restraints."

"We totally refuse to let terrorism become a tool of blackmail. Just as the world did not negotiate with al- Qaida or the Taleban, we shall not negotiate with terrorism," he said.

PTI