The Hindu : `Centre, J&K Govt. to blame'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 18, 2002

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`Centre, J&K Govt. to blame'

By Our Staff Reporter

The Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, talking to a person injured in the recent militant attack, in Jammu on Wednesday. — PTI

Jammu July 17. Accusing the Central and State Governments of failure to prevent terrorist attacks in Jammu, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today said the Qasim Nagar massacre, which came barely two months after the one in Kaluchak, was an eloquent testimony to the insensitiveness and incapability of both the Governments.

Ms. Gandhi, who arrived here in the morning, drove straight from the airport to Rajiv Nagar. She received an enthusiastic response from the crowd, which was in sharp contrast to the hostile reception the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, received two days ago.

Striking an emotional note, Ms. Sonia said it was at the initiative of her husband that people belonging to the weaker sections were settled at Rajiv Nagar. For that reason, she had felt "a personal shock" over the merciless killing of women and children in the colony.

"How long will innocent people die from the bullets of terrorists," she asked. "The Central and State Governments need to evolve a permanent solution to the problem."

Deriding the Central Government for its claim that it was doing its best to curb terrorism, the Congress president said, "The Central Government does not waste any opportunity to make promises but events such as the recent massacre expose the Government's claims."

Taking a different line from that of Mr. Advani, who had differentiated between the Kaluchak and Rajiv Nagar massacres, she said, "It was a repeat of Kaluchak. There is no difference between the two."

Later, Ms. Gandhi visited the border town of R.S. Pura, where border migrants presented a memorandum listing their tales of woe. Addressing a large gathering of migrants, she said their plight was due to lack of a clear policy at the Centre.

She assured them that her party would agitate for a solution to their problems, in Parliament and the State Legislatures and also outside.

She announced that the Punjab Chief Minister had agreed to send relief material for the border migrants of Jammu and Kashmir.

She demanded that the migrants be allotted land in safe areas in lieu of the land they had left behind, as done by the Punjab Government. Her party would take up the issue during the monsoon session of Parliament.

Ms. Gandhi was accompanied by the party general secretary, Ambika Soni, and the State PCC chief, Ghulam Nabi Azad. She returned to New Delhi in the afternoon.

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