India vows to crush Kashmir rebels

Vilence in Kashmir has risen since the summit

By staff and wire reports

NEW DELHI, India -- India says that it will pursue efforts to ease tensions with Pakistan following last week's inconclusive summit, but will continue to crush insurgency-related violence in Kashmir.

"Though we could not conclude a joint document in Agra, we did achieve a degree of understanding," Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told lower house of Indian parliament Tuesday.

"We will build on this to further increase the areas of agreement. Obviously, India's concerns in vital areas such as cross-border terrorism will have to find place in any document that future negotiations endeavor to conclude," Vajpayee said.

Vajpayee vowed that India would not sacrifice its "basic principles for the sake of a joint Indo-Pak document", according to Times of India newspaper.

VIDEO Indian PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf begin their face-to-face meeting. CNN's Satinder Bindra reports (July 15) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Kashmir watches the summit closely. CNN's Kasra Naji reports. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   RESOURCES India-Pakistan summit   Kashmir:  Where conflict rules   Borders of unrest    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

The prime minister went on blaming Musharraf for the stalemate, saying Pakistan's reluctance to discuss cross-border terrorism was one of the reasons why the talks were inclusive, the newspaper reported on its website.

Referring to the recent violence in Kashmir, Vajpayee was quoted as saying "the killings of innocent men, women and children can simply not be glorified as jehad or any kind of political movement."

He rejected Musharraf's Kashmir-centric approach, saying it was India's conviction that an all-round development in the relationship between the two countries would help the dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Times.

Indian newspaper editorials have warned that the government needed to swiftly tackle the mounting violence in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir, the main focus of the summit with Musharraf in Agra, India in mid-July.

The editorials said the rise in insurgency-related violence in Kashmir since the summit meant security forces had been forced to step up their battle against separatist rebels who have been fighting Indian rule since late 1989.

The Times of India newspaper said the main opposition Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi had attacked Vajpayee's government for mishandling the Agra Summit, describing its outcome as "swindling by Pakistan and bungling by India".

Latest violence in Kashmir

Nearly 90 people, including 44 rebels and 30 civilians, have been killed in the six days since the summit ended and another 90 were killed in violence during the four-day summit period.

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Last weekend, Muslim rebels targeted the minority Hindu community in the state - they bombed and fired at pilgrims trekking to a shrine, killing six people.

Then in a separate incident, rebels gunned down 15 Hindus after dragging them out of their homes.

Four other Hindus, who were among seven kidnapped by rebels, were found dead on Sunday.

"By breaking down, the Agra summit seems to have done more damage than if there was no summit at all," The Hindustan Times daily said in an editorial on Tuesday.

The newspapers said India might have lowered its guard in Kashmir while Pakistan had not restrained guerrillas wreaking havoc in the state causing an escalation in violence.

Some 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed in violence during the 11-year insurgency.

India accuses Pakistan of stoking the insurgency in Kashmir by aiding separatist guerrillas, a charge Islamabad denies.

Reuters contributed to this report.