‘’The Centre’s silence on the issue is deferring. How can the torching of Hindus be described as an act of terrorism and that of Muslims be allowed to go unpunished,’’ he said.

‘’How can the Government of India lay claim to being the guardians of our Constitution, our secular character and our very ethos when through its silence it condones what is happening in Gujarat,’’ Mr Abdullah said.

He urged the Centre to ‘’no longer remain silent’’, as it was not just a matter of Muslims in Gujarat, but of all minorities in the country. Mr Abdullah had resigned from the Centre immediately after his party’s defeat in the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

The NC president said, following widespread criticism, both domestic and international, the Centre had assured that the guilty would be punished as harshly as the law permitted.

A fast track court at Vadodra on Friday had acquitted all 21 accused in the post-Godhra Best Bakery massacre for want of evidence.

The former Union Minister of State for External Affairs alleged that those involved in the Godhra carnage case had been charged under POTA, while those responsible for the killings that followed were being gradually set free. ‘’They are being set free not because they are innocents, but because the Gujarat Government is ensuring that the cases become weak due to lack of evidence,’’ he alleged.

A high-level official meeting, headed by Union Minister of State for Home Hiren Pathak here said a multitier and fool-proof security would also be deployed around the places of stay of pilgrims and Jammu Srinagar National Highway due to rising threat of terrorist attack following the one at Sunjawan Army cantonment yesterday, the sources told PTI.

Nineteen battalions of 19,000 troops of the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Special-Service Bureau the Indo-Tibetan Border Police will be deployed at 26 different lodging places and security en route sources said and added the Inspector General of Police has already requisitioned them from the Union Home Ministry.

Besides this, other arrangements reviewed by Mr Pathak included places of stay, power supply, drinking water transportation, langars and traffic management, they said.

Mr Pathak, who arrived here this morning along with Additional and Joint Secretaries of Union Home Ministry, also visited venues of the stay and departure of pilgrims.

A total of 98,000 pilgrims have registered themselves so far for this year’s Amarnath yatra. Last year, 1.16 lakh tourists had visited the cave shrine, the sources said.

A batch of about 3,200 yatries will be allowed to leave daily from Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal, two main base camps of cave shrine yatra at Amarnath, the sources said.

A convoy of pilgrim buses would leave Jammu at 5.30 a.m. hours each day for Kashmir, the meeting was told.

As many as 26 places have been identified in Jammu city where the pilgrims will stay before starting the journey towards Pahalgam, Mr Kotwal said.

“We have nothing to give as Pakistan has already taken Pakistan occupied Kashmir and now we have to take it back”, he said at a valedictory function of a training camp of swayamsewaks here yesterday.

Charging the Prime Minister with “lacking clarity of thought on the issue”, Mr Sudershan asked “what give and take? Will Pakistan agree to our taking back of PoK?”

Mr Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had in recent statements talked about the need for compromise from both sides to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Stating that the Pakistan’s policy was based on hatred against India, the RSS chief said politicians in that country understood it quite well and would not stop aiding and abetting violence in our country.

Mr Sudershan said people of both India and Pakistan wanted peace but the leadership in Islamabad would not allow friendship between the two countries, as it would pose a threat to their survival.

He said Article 370 was mainly responsible for the present turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir and advocated that it be abrogated.

The “mistakes” committed at the time of accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India had surfaced, he said and referred to Jawahar Lal Nehru of being “soft” towards the Abdullah family.

The RSS chief supported the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir with Jammu being made a separate state and Ladakh getting a union territory status.

Expressing concern over the demographic changes in Assam and other parts of India, Mr Sudershan said some politicians were taking this issue lightly for vested interest and warned that it could have dangerous consequence.

On the minority status for Muslims and Christians, he said it could be given to those coming to India from outside but 99 per cent of the people of the two communities were converts from Hinduism.

Mr Sudershan accused Christian missionaries of “misusing” the hospitality shown to them by India by indulging in “forcible conversions”.

Other countries like China did not allow them to enter their land, he claimed.

The RSS chief cautioned the Hindus against considering every religion as the same saying that it would have dangerous consequences in the long run.

“Technology is available to derive information from suspects and criminals. The police should not rely on outdated methods of torture for this as it is a violation of human rights”, commission Chairman Justice A.Q. Parray said at a panel discussion on human rights and its implications jointly organised by the state police and the International Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) here.

Justice Parray said he had received reports of inhuman treatment, including physical abuse, inflicted on suspects during interrogation.

Urging policemen to “show a more humane face”, the Chairman said the police should upgrade its interrogation skills without resorting to torture and that technology could come handy in It.

He, urged the police to be careful and follow the law while invoking the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the National Security Act (NSA) against suspects.

“The killings at Pathribal have been proved to be custodial killings, which was further established by the DNA tests,” Justice parray said.

He said these special Acts provide for detaining a person without trial for as long as two years. So, procedural norms should be followed, including to inform the accused of the charges within five-10 days, he added.

Endorsing the PDP-Congress coalition government’s healing touch policy, Justice Parray asked the cops to shun the “bullet for bullet” attitude to ensure that human rights were not violated.

“State terrorism is no answer to terrorism. By a bullet you can kill a terrorist, not terrorism. Use compassion to tackle the menace,” he added.

“We have asked Geelani to come and discuss his grievances with the Hurriyat... it cannot be tolerated that issues of the Hurriyat Conference are discussed outside the forum”, senior Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told PTI here.

Geelani held a two-hour long meeting at his Hyderpora residence yesterday with several second-rung separatist leaders to discuss the possibility of floating an alternative to the Hurriyat Conference.

Mirwaiz, who is part of the committee appointed by the Hurriyat to persuade Geelani from deserting the amalgam, said the committee held couple of meetings with the senior Jamaat leader and hoped that he does not take a decision that could prove “counterproductive”.

It is for Geelani to decide whether he wants to float a new party. The Hurriyat is based on party representation and not on individuals, he said.

On reports that Geelani was going to announce a new party at his July 4 public meeting at Sopore, Mirwaiz said, “We will not react to the reports... let him formally announce it and we will come up with a statement.”

Mirwaz said the need of the hour was to stand united. “We will try to stay united”.

Asked if Geelani’s likely departure would be a setback to the Hurriyat, he said, “It will be very unfortunate. He is a senior leader and has been chairman of the Hurriyat.” Geelani has been at loggerheads with the Hurriyat over the People’s Conference ouster issue.

The Jamaat leader said, “Hurriyat had asked me to join the proceedings of last week’s executive meeting but I wrote back to them that as long as they do not take action against People’s Conference for participating in elections, I would stay away”.

Geelani said, “The day they (Hurriyat) act against the People’s Conference I told them, I will be one amongst you”.

The action should be similar to that taken against Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, who was expelled from the amalgam for disobeying Hurriyat diktat, he said.

Geelani, however, denied he had decided to float an alternative to the Hurriyat but said he would be organising a series of public meetings next month starting from Sopore on July 4 for which the party had got permission from the State government.

On receiving information about the movement of a heavily armed group in the Thanamandi forest area, Army troops, led by Major Bhupinder Singh, launched a cordon and search operations in the area at 0745 hours, the sources told PTI here today.

During the operation, militants who had taken position in high-altitude places, opened fire on the troops from the three sides of the Lah area in Thanamandi, the sources said.

The troops retaliated and in the three-hour encounter, two militants were killed on the spot.

Major Bhupinder Singh was killed and two jawans were injured in the encounter, the sources said.

SRINAGAR: Two Harkat-e-Jehadi Islami (HUJI) militants were killed Today in an encounter with security forces at Khuri Batpora in the militancy-infested area of Damhal Hanjipora in Anantnag district.

A militant was killed by security forces in the Uri sector of Baramulla district while trying to infiltrate to this side of line of control last night, he said.

At Aragam in the Bandipore area of the district, the police recovered the body of a counter-insurgent, Azam Khan, the spokesman said.