Islamabad: Rejecting Pakistan's objections to India building fencing along the line of control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the step was an "operational requirement" to stop infiltration of militants and not part of any attempts by India to unilaterally settle the issue.

"There was no question of India trying to settle the issue of Jammu and Kashmir by building a fence along the line of control," Vajpayee said in an interview to Pakistan daily 'Dawn' today (Jan 02, 2004), ahead of his visit to Islamabad tomorrow to take part in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit.

Replying to questions over recent Pakistan assertions that the fencing violated the bilateral accords between the two countries, Vajpayee said, "As you know India does not recognise the LoC as an international boundary. As the name implies, it is a line up to which our two countries exercise actual control on our respective sides. It was delineated by a bilateral agreement in December 1972."

"The fencing was an operational requirement to stop the infiltration of the militants. The fencing also shared same objective as the recent ceasefire between the two countries, which was to stop infiltration of militants," he said.

Pakistan has recently lodged a mild protest with India over the construction of fencing, especially when the ceasefire was in operation between the two countries.

Rejecting Pakistan's stand to raise bilateral issues in the SAARC summit, Vajpayee said one should heed to the experience of successful multilateral and regional groupings around the world.

"Whenever a regional organisation is formed, it is to exploit the synergies and complimentary strengths of its member States. This can create collective entity more than the sum of individual companies," he said.

On the other hand, regional groupings that squandered their strengths to deal with the bilateral problems of its members would dilute their collective strength, he said.

"Successful regional groups like the European Union and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have wisely followed the dictum that you should focus on issues that unite rather than let bilateral differences dominate your agenda. This wisdom is enshrined in SAARC charter and I think it is fundamental to SAARC's successful functioning," he said.

Vajpayee also reacted very cautiously to building a $ three billion Iran-India gas pipeline projecting to be laid through Pakistan.