Swamy to submit report on Amarnath incident

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 22. Experience gained from last year's incident in which over 30 Amarnath pilgrims died as a result of ``cross- fire'' helped in preventing larger number of deaths yesterday when a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant lobbed hand grenades at a pilgrim camp and opened fire.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr. I.D. Swamy, who returned here after a day's visit to Kashmir to look into the incident, will submit a report of the team he headed, to the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani tomorrow. On his return here he briefed Mr. Advani over telephone.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Swamy said it was a lone militant who was responsible. ``With last year's experience, cross-firing was avoided. The attack took place at 1.20 a.m. and the security forces cordoned the area from where the shots were fired and in the morning they were able to locate the militant in a shed. The forces sighted him challenged him and opened fire,'' Mr. Swamy said.

Mr. Swamy headed a two-member team which included the Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Ashok Bhandari. The team was of the view that the route of the pilgrimage was well protected but ``because of the difficult terrain there were some spots which were vulnerable.'' He also said the morale of the pilgrims and the security forces was ``very high'' despite the tragic incident. Nine of the injured were taken to the Srinagar military hospital for treatment.

It was on coming back here that he heard of the latest round of violence in the State in which 15 innocent persons are believed to have lost their lives.

Mr. Swamy said the militant who lobbed the grenades on the pilgrim camp and later opened fire belonged to a suicide squad. A letter was found in his pocket. What saved the situation from becoming worse was the fact that the security forces did not return the fire of the militant, instead they cordoned the area and searched for him after day-break. The ``lesson'' from last year's tragedy when many pilgrims had died in the cross-fire between militants and the security forces had been learnt well, he said.

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