The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, July 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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George: attack retaliation to Rahman’s remark
Tribune News Service

Defence Minister George Fernandes along with Chief of Army Staff N. C. Vij speaks to the media in Jammu on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

Jammu, July 23
The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, today said that the peace process between India and Pakistan should not be allowed to be derailed due to incidents of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.

Mr Fernandes was talking to mediapersons after visiting the Akhnoor Army camp, which was attacked by terrorists yesterday killing Brig V.K. Govil and seven soldiers. He also reviewed the security situation with top brass of the Army at Udhampur, which is the headquarters of the Northern Command.

The Chief of Army staff, Gen N.C. Vij, accompanied the minister. The Chief of the Northern Command, Lieut-Gen Hari Prasad, and the Commander of the 16th Corps, Lieut-Gen T.P.S. Brar, who were among those injured in the attack, were also with the minister in the press conference in the technical area of the Air Force station.

Mr Fernandes said the generals were very much in action. They had received minor injuries and had been travelling with “me” to various installations since this morning.

The minister was in the Akhnoor camp for about 45 minutes to review the security measures.

He denied that the attack was caused due to some security lapse and said it was not correct to link everything with the security lapse. It was a suicide attack by three terrorists who were shot dead by soldiers.

He said the fight against terrorism was not new and had been continuing for a long time.

While replying to questions, Mr Fernandes did not directly blame Pakistan for the attack, but said it was the handiwork of those who wanted to derail the peace process.

He said the attack was perhaps in retaliation against the statement of Pakistani hardliner Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman for a solution to the strained relations between India and Pakistan.

Replying to a question whether such attacks have increased the tolerance of India unlike the attack at the Kaluchak cantonment when the warlike situation had become on the borders, the minister replied that: “We should be tolerant. India is a big country and there are many challenges to face. We should not react to such incidents.”

Mr Fernandes said the yesterday’s attack was the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) although some new outfit was claiming to be behind the attack.

Meanwhile, the three chiefs of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy were in Jammu and Kashmir today to discuss the security scenario and various other problems.

While the Army chiefs, N.C. Vij, rushed to Akhnoor from Srinagar last evening to take stock of the situation, the Air Force chief, Air Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, and the Naval chief, Admiral Madhvendra Singh, stayed back in Srinagar. The Air and the Naval chiefs met the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed.

A spokesman for the state government said it was scheduled visit. During the meeting several issues, including jobs for the youths in the forces were discussed.