Kolhapur: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (Nov 6) appealed United States to pressurise its ally Pakistan to hand over underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, so that he can be tried in the court at Mumbai for several offences including masterminding the 1993 bomb blasts.

"I appeal to US President George Bush that merely declaring Dawood a global terrorist is not enough. He must be handed over to India to facilitate his trial," Advani said, addressing a public rally at Gandhi maidan in Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra this evening.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had addressed a public rally in Kolhapur on October 18.

Advani lashed out at Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism, but reiterated that the neighbouring nation will never get Jammu and Kashmir.

Commending the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government for providing security and development in its last five and half years' rule, Advani said during this period, 183 ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) modules have been destroyed and 91 espionage offences have been unravelled.

Advani said though we have not stamped out terrorism completely, we have developed a world opinion against the scourge.

Following the Union Government's efforts to counter cross-border terrorism, 1.75 lakh tourists visited Kashmir this year, even as 1.50 lakh pilgrims participated in the Amarnath yatra. Besides providing security and development to the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government has given a stable Government, he said.

Without naming the Congress, he blamed the party for its "misrule" in the last five decades. "We got independence in 1947, but could not convert self governance to good governance," he commented.

He said he was coming to Kolhapur after six years and felt honoured to rename the Kolhapur railway station after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

Referring to the huge gathering at the rally in Kolhapur, which is considered to be a Congress stronghold, Advani said, "This is my third visit in recent time to Maharashtra and I see political situation changing fast."

Earlier, he had addressed rallies at Aurangabad and at Solapur, which also happens to be the constituency of Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and a Congress stronghold.

BJP nominee Pratap Singh Mohite-Patil wrested the Solapur Lok Sabha seat from the Congress with an overwhelming majority, creating ripples in the political circles.

The victory clearly stumped the political pundits as nobody even the BJP leaders had thought that BJP would win with this majority.

PTI