The Hindu : Pak. dismisses Advani's charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 09, 2002

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Pak. dismisses Advani's charge

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD May 8 . The Pakistan Foreign Office has dismissed as "ludicrous" the reported remarks by the Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, that elements in Pakistan are fanning the flames of communal unrest in Gujarat.

A Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement that the "patently false claim" was another proof of the BJP leadership's predisposition to blame Pakistan for its own policies.

``The latest pronouncement of Mr. Advani was no more that a blatant and brazen attempt to cover up the criminal complicity of the BJP Government and the BJP's sister organisations in the systematic massacres of Muslims in Gujarat,'' the statement said.

The tone and tenor of the statement does not come as a surprise. Since the Agra summit in July last year, the military establishment here has not missed any opportunity to hit out at Mr. Advani.

The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, in his interview to The Hindu had named Mr. Advani as someone who had derailed the summit.

The spokesman alleged that the "shameful role" played by the Hindu extremist outfits such as the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal in the planning and the execution of anti-Muslim violence was not hidden from anyone.

Mr. Advani should be asked whether these "Hindu fascist and extremist" organisations were acting at the behest of Pakistan?

The recent remarks of the VHP leader, Ashok Singhal, that the killings in Gujarat had shown the Hindus the way and that their journey of victory would begin and end on the same path, gave a chilling indication of the crazed mindset governing these fanatical organisations.

The spokesman called upon the Indian Government to refrain from what was termed cynical and self-serving allegations.

Instead it should take effective measures to rehabilitate the uprooted Muslim minority community in Gujarat, besides bringing the culprits of the "Gujarat pogrom" to justice.

"It could begin by proscribing the extremist and terrorist outfits such as the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena'', it said.

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