Advani came down harshly on Opposition parties who, among other things, were blaming the Atal Behari Vajyapee Government for the loss of hundreds of Armymen in the recent conflict. What about thousands of security personnel who have been killed by Pakistan through its proxy war, the Home Minister wondered. He disclosed that in the recent years, 1,845 securitymen were killed in Kashmir while 1,500 others were killed in Punjab. ``The corresponding loss on the other side,'' he held, ``is zero.''

No country, held Advani, could let itself be bled in this fashion year after year. At the same time, he held that it was significant that US had begun torealise the serious implications of Pakistan waging cross-border terrorism in India. ``1999 has turned out to be a watershed for Indo-American relations,'' he said.

According to Advani, two factors turned the world opinion in India's favour during the Indo-Pak conflict: Vajpayee's Lahore Yatra and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's astute diplomacy.

``Let no one mock or make fun of the bus yatra,'' Advani insisted. ``In fact, the yatra and our diplomacy was a major factor in ensuring that the world opinion was on our side.''

Hitting out at Pakistan, Advani argued that the democracy there was never free from Army interference while this was never the case with India. In Pakistan, autonomous power centres often functioned independently of each other, he remarked.

Advani maintained that though the post-Pokharan economic sanctions witnessed strain in India's relations with the US, the Kargil episode had changed the situation.

The Home Minister hoped that the ``changedatmosphere'' would help promote trade and commerce between India and the United States, irrespective of whichever Government came to power after the elections.