In his address to the 54th UN General Assembly being delivered at the time of going to the press, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh also lit into Islamabad for sponsoring terrorism in India and called for progress on an international convention against terrorism in the current session.

``Terrorism is a menace to which open societies are vulnerable; it becomes particularly difficult for democracies when terrorists are armed, financed, and backed by governments or their agencies, and benefit from the protection of state power,'' Singh said in a pointed and transparent reference to Islamabad and its intelligence agency ISI.

Speaking at length on the Kargil episode, Singh told the General Assembly that Pakistan had betrayed India's faith and violated not just the Lahore Accord, but also the SimlaAgreement, which had prevented conflict for 25 years.

``The aggression over territory can be more easily vacated, that territory of trust which has been transgressed is infinitely more difficult to restore,'' Singh said in a reference to demands from various quarters for resumption of dialogue between the two sides.

Yet, Singh said, the path of the India-Pakistan composite dialogue process is open and without pre-conditions. Islamabad only needed to abjure violence and cross-border terrorism, principles integral to the Lahore Process and the Simla Agreement.

Singh also rejected outright and categorically any Pakistani claims over Kashmir saying it was an integral part of India and would remain so.

``Because this is not any territorial dispute; it is an assertion of... nationhood. That is why Jammu and Kashmir is not a so-called core issue; it is at the very core of Indian nationhood,'' he asserted.

Singh said India was greatly disappointed by Pakistan's compulsive hostility, because it was such anaberration in a region today when all other SAARC countries were at peace.

Singh also sought to link Pakistan's aggression with the events in Afghanistan, saying the Kargil episode was a demonstration of Islamabad wanting to hold to ransom the world. It was also a manifestation of the larger disorders that the world has been wintessing in Afghanistan where the country has been pushed into anarchy by external forces.

``We know how terrorism uses the international financial system, how it exploits the breakdown of countries and soceities and how it has preyed on the nexus between drugs and proliferation of small arms,'' Singh said.

Addressing the issue of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Singh said India remained true to the commitment it offered last year and the new government would resume discussions to bring about a successful conclusion.

``Naturally this requires the creation of a positive environment as we work towards creating the widest possible consensus domestically,'' he added.