Vajpayee made the assurance at a press conference here during his first-ever visit to the state as Prime Minister. Answering a question about the fate of Article 370, which the Bharatiya Janata Party wants scrapped, the Prime Minister made it clear that his government was not planning any changes in this regard.

``There is no proposal to change the status, '' he said and added that all states enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy and the Centre was working on a package to devolve more powers to them.

Vajpayee also ruled out the idea of converting the Line of Control (LoC) into permanent border between India and Pakistan, and warned the country's neighbour against `creating tension and provocations'' along the border. ``This must stop, for this is a futile exercise.'' State Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, whoflanked Vajpayee at the press meet, was among those who had suggested turning the LoC into the international border. As Vajpayee faced a question on this, Abdullah pleaded that he had said that only in his ``individual'' capacity.

Vajpayee reminded the Parliament had passed a resolution declaring the entire state -- including the Pakistan-occupied portion -- to be an integral part of the country. No other ``alternative'' was being discussed, he said.

He said Pakistan could never succeed in breaking the state away from India. Yet it had allowed the Kashmir issue to ``cloud our bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation in South Asia as a whole.'' He reiterated that Delhi felt the Kashmir issue should be put on the hold, while the two countries stepped up people-to-people contacts. Though the Prime Minister assured the Centre would help the state in getting out of its financial crises, but no specific schemes were announced. A team of officials from the state is travelling to Delhi this month todiscuss the issue with the Centre, he said.

The Prime Minister also made clear there would be no concessions for the youth who had taken up arms. The cult of violence must be given up and normalcy restored completely before the Centre made any offer to them, he stressed.

Answering a question on human rights, Vajpayee admitted securitymen could have made ``mistakes'' while fighting the long proxy war, but the authorities did not condone such lapses. The complaints were investigated and the guilty faced stern punishment.

Vajpayee visited Leh and Kargil, and a trip to Tanghdar near the LoC is also on the cards. In the Valley, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference declared a `hartal.' The state units of the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) boycotted the civic reception organised for him in Srinagar.

In his statement CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami objected to Vajpayee's choice of dates for the visit. His visit to Srinagar on December 6, the day Babri mosque was demolished, was ``veryunfortunate.'' he said.

Blast in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: A powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion rocked Srinagar late tonight, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on a visit to the city. The sound of the blast, which occurred at 11.10 pm, could be heard throughout the city, official sources said. Sources said the IED caused damage to several buildings. There was no loss of life.