National

Minorities commission to meet PM today

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MARCH 4. After its plans to visit Gujarat this past weekend were ``nipped in the bud'' by the State administration on grounds of security, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, tomorrow to discuss the situation in the country.

The Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Tarlochan Singh, said that all the members would attend the interaction.

A similar appointment had been sought with the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani.

Mr. Singh said the NCM members had wanted to visit Gujarat on Saturday and had informed the State Government of their plan.

The Gujarat Chief Secretary, however, told the commission to postpone the visit on the premise that the State would not be in a position to provide them security in view of the curfew imposed on many of the towns and the prevailing situation.

While Mr. Singh did not elaborate on what transpired thereafter, commission sources claimed that the members — who met even over the weekend to monitor the situation — were upset with Gujarat's response.

It is also being said that the meeting with the Prime Minister is aimed at securing his intervention in facilitating a visit of the commission to the State.

Insisting that the Prime Minister had nothing to do with the proposed visit, Mr. Singh said the position taken by the State administration was understandable given the ground reality. ``Even the Congress team had to return without visiting the affected areas.''

Though fact-finding is a mandate of the NCM, ``confidence-building measures'' top its priority list now.

Two days after the Godhra incident, the commission issued a public appeal urging members of all communities to stand together to ``prevent divisive forces from attempting to fragment our country and to spoil its secular image.''

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