M A I N   N E W S

Advani rules out security lapse
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Lal Krishan Advani, today informed the Rajya Sabha that there were no security lapses in Katra and the Tanda Army camp incidents and the government was determined to crush terrorism at any cost.

It is not fair to say there was a security lapse, Mr Advani told the Upper House while denying charges by Opposition members, including CPM member Nilotpal Basu, of a ‘’very serious security lapse’’ resulting in the killing of Vaishno Devi pilgrims at Katra on Monday night and yesterday’s attack on the Tanda Army camp near Akhnoor.

As far as Katra was concerned, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said there was no fault on the part of security forces anywhere.

“There has been no complacency. There has been no lowering of guard. World over there is a feeling and strong revulsion against terrorism. The government and the people are determined to fight it,” Mr Advani said replying to supplementaries during Question Hour.

He said previously it was thought that the most effective weapon was the nuclear bomb, or the hydrogen bomb but the new weapon that was being used by militants was suicide squads to which the country even lost Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Stating that it was the 10th “fidayeen” attack this year, Mr Advani said all three terrorists, who attacked the Tanda Army camp, were killed yesterday, though at a heavy cost.

On whether India would agree to the conversion of the Line of Control into a permanent border, he said the government was committed to the Constitution and the resolution passed in Parliament on the matter.

To a query by Congress member Natwar Singh, Mr Advani said “where there are wide differences between the two countries, those countries will have to solve the problem not by war or proxy war but by dialogue.”

On the contentious border issue, Mr Advani said he had told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during his visit to India that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was a disputed territory.

Mr Advani said he told General Musharraf that “even the parts ceded to China by Pakistan, according to my constitution, are parts of India”.

On the role of government’s interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir N.N. Vohra, Mr Advani said he was talking to government representatives and various organisations.

He said Mr Vohra would talk to any organisation which had taken up arms, but was willing to give these up.

Mr Advani said Mr Vohra could talk to those groups which in the past may have a secessionist trend, but were now committed to the country’s sovereignty.

The CPM today expressed concern over the escalation of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement, the CPM Politburo said the suicide attack on an Army camp at Tanda barely less than eight hours after the terrorist attack on Vaishno Devi pilgrims at Katra was shocking.

These attacks were an attempt to disrupt the ongoing process towards Indo-Pakistan dialogue, the statement said.

Given the initiation of this process, the Central Government should have expected such attacks by desperate elements and taken adequate measures to prevent them, the CPM said, adding that the lack of vigilance was borne out by the fact that eight terrorist attacks had taken place since May when the Prime Minister announced a new initiative for beginning a dialogue with Pakistan.

Such lapses on the part of the government on this score would be used by terrorists in pursuance of their nefarious aims, the Politburo said.

The Central Government and the defence authorities needed to immediately review the situation and take measures to ward off such attacks in the future, the CPM said.