The Hindu : Pak. responsible for Jammu attack: Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 26, 2002

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Pak. responsible for Jammu attack: Advani

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI NOV. 25. The Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, L. K. Advani, today held Pakistan responsible for Sunday's terrorist attack on the Raghunath temple in Jammu. "Our neighbour is responsible for all this,'' he told Parliament.

In the course of his suo motu statement, and later while answering questions in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Advani came down heavily on Pakistan and sought to allay the impression that the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government were not working in coordination. He was cautious in not criticising the State Government's decision to release some militants and said that the attacks would have taken place anyway. "It is not that the release of terrorists has led to the attack, this would have happened anyway, because Pakistan has not given up its dream of avenging the 1971 defeat.''

Though Mr. Advani ruled out any direct link between the decision of the PDP-Congress coalition to release some militants and Sunday's attack, the issue did lead to some sparring between the Congress, main Opposition party, and the Government.

The Congress leader, Jaipal Reddy, asked Mr. Advani to clarify "whether or not the State Government had done anything without the clearance of the Central intelligence agencies,'' a demand supported by Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI (M).

Mr. Advani said the Centre was not consulted before the Jammu and Kashmir Government released the militants. "The Central Government was not consulted, in fact, the Home Secretary wrote to the State Government suggesting that they hold proper consultations before taking the decision.''

The Deputy leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Shivraj Patil, intervened to say that they had been told that Central agencies had been consulted. Mr. Advani tried to assuage the ruffled tempers, saying that the State Government had a right to do what it did, but it would have been better if the Centre had been consulted.

Cutting across the political spectrum, the members expressed strong sentiments against Pakistan and its role in aiding and abetting terrorism. Referring to the Pakistani hand in the attack on the Raghunath temple, he said that communication intercepts had revealed that it was the handiwork of the Al-Mansooran, a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), Prabhaunath Singh (Samata Party), P. H. Pandian (AIADMK) and Rashid Alvi (BSP) urged the Government to deal with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism decisively.

Both the Houses of Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the attack and expressing their condolences to the bereaved.

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