The Hindu : Reassess 'soft policy' on terrorism: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

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Reassess 'soft policy' on terrorism: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MARCH 24. Political parties have condemned the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir even as the Congress and the BJP traded charges over the handling of militancy in the State.

Condemning the "inhuman depravity", the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, described it as the work of anti-India elements who "are bent upon frustrating attempts to restore normality in the State".

Ms. Gandhi's statement apart, the Congress was quick to counter the charges levelled against the coalition Government. The party said it did not want to "get into a political skirmish" on the attack and was critical of the BJP for trying to politicise it even before the details were known.

To the accusation that the attack was a fall-out of the Mufti Government's decision to dismantle the Special Operations Group, the Congress said it was too early to jump to conclusions.

The party pointed out that it had time and again urged the Centre to restore the paramilitary presence in the State to the pre-election levels.

The party spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, said that way back in 2000, the Congress had demanded that paramilitary personnel be positioned in villages where the Pandits lived instead of camps.

Stating that the Centre was in the know of all the details pertaining to this incident, he reiterated the party's demand for a clear-cut policy to fight cross-border terrorism.

`Impose Article 356'

The BJP lost little time in reminding the Centre that it should consider the use of Article 356 in Jammu and Kashmir if the Mufti Government continued to ignore the Central directive to tackle militancy. The Congress said that Article 356 was not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir under the Constitution. Blaming the ISI and Pak-supported militant groups for the killings, the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, could not escape from owning responsibility for it.

After the Union Home Ministry team's assessment of the situation, the Centre should direct the Mufti Government to take effective steps and if it failed to adhere to, then it should send a Constitutional directive, failing which action should be considered under Article 356.

The BJP criticised the State Government's approach to tackling militancy by "curtailing" the military operations, disbanding the SOG and the "healing touch". The Congress too came under attack for supporting the policy of releasing terrorists.

Acknowledging that the Kashmir situation required a "healing touch", the BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, said this "must only heal the victims of terror and not its perpetrators". He demanded that in the light of the continuing militant strikes, the State Government reassess the utility of continuing with its "soft policy on terrorism". He said that in the national interest, the Congress should put a halt to the PDP's "soft agenda" towards terrorism.

A brutal act: CPI(M)

The Left parties condemned the massacre with the CPI-M describing it as a brutal act of gunning down innocent people in cold blood. "This inhuman act has been deliberately done to spoil the chances of restoring peace and allowing the minority community to live peacefully in the Valley," the CPI(M) politburo said in a statement.

The party said there were reports that the police posted in the village did not take any action to protect the families and demanded an inquiry. The CPI central secretariat said the modus operandi of the militants was a "desperate move". This was aimed to strike a blow at the efforts being made by the Mufti Government to bring back Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley.

"It is also a sinister design to give a communal twist and create further trouble so as to stall any initiative to restore peace and normality in the State." The party urged the Vajpayee Government to extend all help to the State and demanded adequate compensation to the victims' kin.

The CPI-ML (Liberation) criticised the Government's failure to protect the people and demanded a judicial inquiry.

`New attempt by terrorists'

In Berlin, the German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, condemned the Kashmir attack in the harshest possible terms and said it was ``a new attempt by terrorists to destroy hopes for peace in the region.'' He called on all sides to try to end the conflict peacefully.

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