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Strongly condemning the incident, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the government to be more vigilant to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
Condemning the incident, the pro-Pakistan extremist group, Hizbul Mujahideen, told the Srinagar-based NAFA news agency that "whosoever has done this incident has left a scar on the movement in the state". The Hizb had declared earlier that it would not carry out any attack on pilgrims.
"The attack on the yatris near Pahalgam is a crime against humanity," Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in New Delhi. "The terrorists are hell-bent on undermining Indian democracy. This proves Pakistan is not implementing its assurances on the ground. It is high time we took immediate and stern action against the terrorists, their protectors and sponsors."
National Conference president and Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah termed the incident "most unfortunate" and expressed utmost confidence that the perpetrators would be brought to book.
In an apparent reference to the demands of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Shiv Sena to dismiss the state government, he appealed to "such parties to stop playing politics over the dead bodies of innocents and work in tandem with the state government in maintaining communal harmony".
VHP senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore accused Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah of "total failure" in protecting the lives of innocent citizens and sought the state government's dismissal.
RSS spokesman M G Vaidya termed the attack "unfortunate" and said it showed that "militants can breach even the best of security".
Flaying the Union home ministry for the "repeated failure" of its security apparatus, the Communist Party of India, Marxist, said "the attack shows the complete collapse of L K Advani's set-up".
The party wondered what the use of "all this paraphernalia of POTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act]" was when terrorists were attacking at will.
The Kashmiri Pandits also denounced the Centre and the Jammu & Kashmir government for "failing" to ensure the security of the pilgrims and said the attack "clearly demonstrates the real fanatic face" of the terrorists.
"There was a lot of big talk about foolproof security for the pilgrims. But the attack has shown that the ground reality is different," Shakti Bhan, general secretary of Panun Kashmir, an organisation of the Pandits, said.
The Kashmiri Pandit United Front president B L Khachroo said the incident exposed the "hollow claims" of the government about security for the pilgrims.
PTI
EARLIER REPORTS: Militants kill 9 Amarnath pilgrims, injure 32 Don't mistake restraint for weakness, India warns Pakistan VHP warns of reaction to attack on pilgrims Amarnath pilgrims resume journey
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