Govt. should act tough, says BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 8. The Bharatiya Janata Party let it be known that the country's ``tolerance limit'' has been virtually reached by the continuing episodes of the most gruesome acts of violence by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The party said it believes that Pakistan has a plan to make the whole of Jammu and Kashmir a target of terrorism, not just limit it to the Kashmir Valley.

``Everyone in the country wants the Government to respond to the growing number of incidents with concrete steps,'' the parliamentary party spokesperson, Mr. V.K. Malhotra, said today.

In a separate statement, the party general secretary, Mr. Narendra Modi, said ``while India had spread out a red carpet welcome for the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the naked dance of terrorists had painted the countryside red with the blood of innocents.'' Finally, the party is arriving at the painful conclusion that getting the better of terrorists is not going to be easy, and that it has been foolish to claim, as the BJP had done earlier when in the Opposition, that it would be able to straighten out the situation in no time.

Responding to the Jammu railway station incident, the party just stopped short of describing the Government handling of the situation as inadequate. What it did say was that there is an urgent need for a ``new policy'' and a ``new plan of action'' to deal with the worsening situation. ``The opposition is right in demanding a statement of explanation from the Government,'' Mr. Malhotra added. But the bottom line was that ``it was time for all parties cutting across the political divide to stand up unitedly and in one voice condemn terrorism and go forward determinedly together.''

Mr. Malhotra, who has asked for a pro-active Government policy made it clear that he was not commending action across the Line of Control, but decisive steps were needed like attacking terrorist hideouts and safe havens on this side of the LoC.

Mr. Modi expressed the party's disappointment that in the Jammu railway station incident only one terrorist was killed. In the unified command of security agencies created in Kashmir, the railway police and the security agency of the airports should also be included.

Mr. Modi said the steps taken by India so far had neither been able to protect innocent citizens nor had they been successful in touching the hearts of terrorists to make them change their ways.

The RSS affiliates have already lashed out against the Government's inept handling of the Kashmir situation. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has virtually served an ultimatum on Mr. Advani asking him to get his act together in the next two weeks.

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