Thursday, May 16, 2002
Thursday, May 16, 2002 |
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By Our Special Correspondent
The issue of the terrorist attack was raised by members as soon as the House assembled, with the Opposition benches demanding the adjournment of official business to take up the matter. Mr. Vajpayee, who was present in the House, responded immediately. Since he spoke in Hindi, his remark that what had happened was extremely gruesome and "Hume pratikar karna hoga'' (we will have to counter it), was misunderstood by some people, who felt that he was talking of retaliation. It was later clarified that Mr. Vajpayee spoke of the need to counter the gruesome incident. Mr. Vajpayee said he was ready to call an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. Later, it was decided that the House itself would discuss the matter on the last day of the session. Requesting the members not to insist on postponing the official business of the House, Mr. Vajpayee said it was not a party issue and the entire political establishment of the country was united in condemning the terrorist attack. He referred to the fact that both the Defence Minister as well as the Home Minister would be back in Delhi tomorrow and the issue could then be taken up in a substantial manner. The plan to call an all-party meeting was given up in favour of a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the last day of the session after the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, called a meeting of some party leaders in his chamber. It was suggested, and immediately accepted, that instead a debate under Rule 193 be held in the Lok Sabha itself on Friday, May 17, immediately after question hour. Private members' business, normally taken up every Friday afternoon, would be suspended to allow more time for the discussion, it was agreed. A unanimous resolution is expected to be adopted in the Lok Sabha, although the exact words of the resolution are yet to be worked out. It could be a resolution moved by the chair or identical resolutions moved by the ruling and Opposition parties. The Speaker's meeting was attended by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, the Congress deputy leader, Shivraj Patil, the CPI (M) parliamentary party leader, Somnath Chatterji, and the Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Take concrete steps, Sonia tells Centre By Luv Puri
Ms. Gandhi, who arrived here this afternoon, told newspersons that the time had come for the Centre to show that it was serious in containing terrorism. ``The Congress has always backed the Centre in matters of national security. We have supported all its policies whether it was after the attack on the World Trade Centre or even the December 13 attack on Parliament''. The Centre had to act swiftly and punish those who were responsible for the inhuman attack. The country was shocked by the events in which even children were not spared, Ms. Gandhi said. ``The country was proud of the jawans who were staking their lives day and night to finish off terrorism.'' Ms. Gandhi arrived here with the State Congress president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other senior leaders. She visited the Army family quarters where the attack took place.
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