National

Attack meant to provoke wider conflicts: CPI(M)

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 14. The attack on bus passengers and armed personnel in Jammu came in for condemnation from the Opposition parties today.The Congress, CPI(M), and RJD were quick to condemn the incident. Most of the MPs appeared oblivious of the incident till Parliament adjourned for lunch. Consequently the issue was raised later by Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), Basudeb Acharya (CPI-M), K. Yerran Naidu (TDP) in the Lok Sabha and Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Rajya Sabha.

While Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad demanded the resignation of the Home Minister, L.K. Advani, Mr. Yerran Naidu urged the Home Minister to take the House into confidence on the ``dastardly attack'.

Expressing ``horror and shock'' at the incident, the Congress spokesperson, Jaipal Reddy said the attack was one more example of Pakistan-sponsored atrocities. Though he refrained from blaming the Government, he said that it should have anticipated this kind of an attack, since it had a pattern. A similar attack had taken place during the visit of President Clinton. Mr. Reddy pledged his party's support to a comprehensive security strategy, and called on the Government to take the Opposition into confidence.

The Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the ``deliberate act is meant to provoke wider conflicts and tensions''. Calling for a relentless effort to track down the armed gang responsible for the massacre, it demanded an immediate inquiry. Talking to newspersons, its party leader in the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee charged that the incident reflected the `comprehensive failure' of the Vajpayee Government to protect the lives of the people of the State. He said the militant attack exposed the inability of the Government to tackle terrorist activities in the country, despite POTA.

Another CPI(M) leader, Nilotpal Basu said that whenever there was a visit by some senior U S official to India, there was a militant strike in the troubled State. He wanted to know what confabulations were taking place with the U.S. officials and what purpose was being served by the joint Indo-U S military exercises going on in the country.

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