Peace cannot be discussed under shower of bullets: Pranab

New Delhi: In significant remarks against the backdrop of the Pathankot attack, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday night that disagreement with neighbours should be resolved through dialogue but "we cannot discuss peace under a shower of bullets".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.
The President also utilised the occasion to caution the country to guard itself against forces of violence, intolerance and unreason.
Against the backdrop of debate on intolerance in the country, he said reverence for the past is one of the essential ingredients of nationalism.
"Our finest inheritance, the institutions of democracy, ensure to all citizens justice, equality, and gender and economic equity.
"When grim instances of violence hit at these established values which are at the core of our nationhood, it is time to take note. We must guard ourselves against the forces of violence, intolerance and unreason," he said.
In a delicate balancing act, he appeared to counsel the law makers and the Government that it was their duty to ensure reforms and enactment of progressive legislations for which a spirit of accommodation and consensus building should be the preferred mode of decision making.
For revitalising the forces of growth, the President said there is need for reforms and progressive legislation.
"It is the bounden duty of the law makers to ensure that such legislation is enacted after due discussion and debate. A spirit of accommodation, cooperation and consensus-building should be the preferred mode of decision-making.
Delays in decision-making and implementation can only harm the process of development," he said.
Mukherjee's remarks assume significance in the context of the deadlock over the Constitution amendment bill on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) following Congress' three main demands which the Government has refused to concede.