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November 24, 2002
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Advani to make statement in Parliament on Jammu attack

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani will make a detailed statement in Parliament on the terrorist attack on the Raghunath temple in Jammu on Sunday evening.

"I have asked for details of the incident from the state government. I will make a statement in Parliament on Monday," he said in New Delhi.

According to sources in the home ministry, the deputy prime minister will dwell upon the developments in the state ever since Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed assumed office a few weeks ago.

He is also expected to speak on how the "appeasement" policy of the state government has affected the morale of the security forces.

He will ask the state to exercise some restraint and not release terrorists at random.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should summon the Mufti and ask him to curb terrorism.

"The attack in Jammu indicates that the state government's soft policy towards terrorism is not going to pay off," he told rediff.com

"The attack on the Raghunath temple... indicates that Pakistan is not going to give up its policy of encouraging terrorism in India. In the last two days there have been more then 15 incidents of terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides the attack on the Raghunath temple, which is highly deplorable, the terrorists have targeted one of the ministers in Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's Cabinet and killed 6 CRPF jawans in Srinagar," he said.

He regretted that the state government continues to harp upon the non-implementation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and disbanding of the Special Operations Group.

"This is not the time to curtail the powers of the armed forces. Instead we should be giving more powers to the armed forces and police... so that they can crush terrorism with an iron hand," he said.

He asked the Congress to come clean on the issue. "After these incidents it needs to be seen how the Congress will react to the situation, because it is part of the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Clearly, soft-peddling towards militants is not paying off. Terrorism cannot vanish into thin air just because you release some of their people. On the contrary, it will give fillip to terrorism, just as it had done in 1989 when Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, then the home minister of India, ordered the release six top Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leaders in exchange for the safe release of his daughter Rubaiya Sayeed," he added.

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