Parties see bid to give communal colour

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 5. The killing of 15 Hindus of Shrunti Dhar village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir by militants is being seen by political parties as an attempt to give a communal colour to the problems in the State as also to trigger an exodus of Hindus from Doda.

Expressing outrage, the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has called upon the Central and State Governments to ``demonstrate their commitment, resolve, determination and capacity to combat the nefarious designs of those forces whose aim is to destroy the secular heritage and pluralistic ethos of Jammu and Kashmir.'' The country expected ``concrete steps and initiatives by the Government to put an end to these repeated assaults on human lives,'' she said.

The massacre has also led to demands that the State be put under President's rule. This has come not only from the Shiv Sena, but also from the Bharatiya Janata Party's Jammu unit which has found fault with the Farooq Abdullah Government.

The BJP preferred to see the massacre as a proof of ``growing frustration'' of terrorists. The party general secretary, Mr. Narendra Modi, said, ``they have been unsuccessful on all fronts. They neither have the courage to come to the negotiating table, not are they able to deal with the security forces. By attacking soft targets the terrorists want to create fear and panic and increase social tensions.''

The CPI general secretary, Mr. A.B. Bardhan, described the killing as gruesome ``carried out in a planned manner'' to ``deliberately give a communal colour'' to the problem in Jammu and Kashmir. Referring to the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's description of violence in Kashmir as part of the freedom struggle of Kashmiris, he said: ``it was time Pakistan opened its eyes to the grim reality of the senseless violence which cannot be called freedom struggle.'' He regretted that the Government had ``no idea how to proceed with the negotiations'' (with Pakistan), ``nor had it a plan to deal effectively with militancy and terrorism.''

The CPI(M) politburo said: ``this is the second attack in the last fortnight in the same area. It is strange that following the first incident proper security arrangements have not been made. Reports about the latest incident suggest that even the information about the massacre had to be conveyed to the authorities by one of the survivors.''

The Janata Dal (United) spokesperson, Mr. Mohan Prakash, called for ``effective steps by the Government.''

The president of the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, Maulana Asad Madani, said the killing was an un-Islamic act of cowardice which had ``nothing to do `jehad' or any other Islamic practice.'' Those who carried out the massacre were plain criminals and should be dealt with as such.

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