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`Govt. devising new strategies to counter suicide attacks'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 8. The Government is devising new strategies to tackle the situation arising out of frequent incidents of `fidayeen' (suicide) attacks by terrorist groups, the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, has said.

Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of the Home Ministry here today, he said that the attacks were taking place in spite of tight security arrangements. "Taking into consideration the new developments, the Government is devising strategies to tackle the situation.''

Members of the Consultative Committee, cutting across party lines, condemned Tuesday's militant attack on Amarnath pilgrims near Pahalgam — which claimed nine lives — and wanted to know if there had been any security lapse.

The CPI (M) member, Somnath Chatterjee, G.M. Banatwala of the IUML, Shankar Roy Chowdhury and Ali Mohammad Naik said that the attack was aimed at disrupting the peace process and the coming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. And that the Government should exercise more caution to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.

Some members pointed out that the base camp of the Amarnath pilgrims near Pahalgam had been relocated in such a manner that it was surrounded by hills, making it an easy target for terrorist attacks. And a few companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) inducted recently on the yatra route were not familiar with the local terrain and escape routes.

Avtar Singh Bhadana of the Congress demanded protection for the Gujjar-Bakkarwal community in Kashmir, which had been forced to migrate in view of the military build-up and the firing on the Line of Control.

He also felt that the security environment in the State was not conducive for holding elections, particularly when the Centre had not been able to protect even a limited number of pilgrims.

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