New Delhi:
President Pranab Mukherjee today said that ideally dialogue should be a continual engagement for resolving disputes among nations but peace cannot be discussed under a “shower of bullets”.
In significant remarks that come against the backdrop of the Pathankot attack, he also said terrorism is a war beyond any doctrine and is a “cancer which must be operated out with a firm scalpel”.
“There is no good or bad terrorism; it is pure evil,” the President said in his address to the nation on the eve of 67th Republic Day.
Mukherjee said nations will not agree on everything but the challenge today is existential because terrorists seek to undermine order by rejecting the very basis of strategic stability which are recognised borders.
“If outlaws are able to unravel borders, then we are heading towards an age of chaos. There will be disputes among nations; and, as is well known, the closer we are to a neighbour, the higher the propensity for disputes.
“There is a civilised way to bridge disagreements; dialogue, ideally, should be a continual engagement. But we cannot discuss peace under a shower of bullets,” he said.
