Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called on old enemy Pakistan today to walk the "road of peace" but said Islamabad must end what he called cross-border terrorism.
"On the occasion of our Independence Day anniversaries, I invite Pakistan to join us on the road for peace," he said in an address to the nation from the 17th century Red Fort in the old quarter of New Delhi.
"The path ahead is rocky, there are minefields, but if we work together, the obstacles will go away," Mr Vajpayee said from within a three-sided cabin of bullet-proof glass. "We have been fighting for 50 years, how much more blood shall we spill?"
Last year, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan came close to waging their fourth war since independence from Britain in 1947 after an attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants fighting its rule in disputed Kashmir.
The two countries restored diplomatic ties and bus links after Mr Vajpayee vowed in April to make a final drive for peace.
Thousands of people turned out for the Indian independence day ceremony in a heavily guarded football stadium in Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, for the first time since the revolt took off in late 1989, Indian authorities said.
Peace talks between the longtime rivals remain on hold because of New Delhi's insistence that Islamabad stop what it calls the flow of guerrillas into Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is at the heart of more than half a century of animosity.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of "cross-border terrorism" by backing militant attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere. Islamabad denies direct involvement in the Kashmir rebellion but is seeking a plebiscite to determine the future of the territory. More than 38,000 people have died in separatist violence.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and police were on high alert across the country for the Independence Day celebrations amid fears of militant violence. On the eve of today's ceremonies, rebels fighting Indian rule in the remote northeast killed 36 people, including 10 children, in a bomb blast and shootouts.