UNION HOME Minister LK Advani on Sunday expressed
confidence that the BJP-led Government would ruthlessly
crush the Pak-sponsored cross border terrorism in Jammu and
Kashmir and restore total normalacy there in `a reasonable
period' of time.
"I would not say that the situation is normal in the border
State. But the situation is definitely moving towards
normalacy. Going by what we have achieved during the last
six months, I am confident that we will restore normalacy
in that State in a reasonable period of time," Mr Advani
said, as he declined to fix a time-frame for restoring
normalacy in the border State.
A few of strongest pointers to suggest that the situation
in the border State was fast returning to normal were the
marked increase in the tourist inflow to the State,
re-start of film shootings in the picturesque locales of
the Valley and massive turn-out of pilgrims at the Amarnath
and Vaishnodevi shrines, he said.
Mr Advani said, he would be holding talks with Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah some time next
months on the plan of action to resettle the Hindus who had
migrated to other parts of the country after the insurgency
broke out in the State. He estimated that there were in all
2.5 lakh Hindu migrants to be resettled.
Addressing a news conference at the BJP headquarters here,
Mr Advani said that the Centre, in collaboration with the
Farooq Abdullah Government, had made vast progress in
breaking the back of Pakistan's Inter Intelligence Service
(ISI)- sponsored militancy and secessionism in the border
State.
Mr Advani, who spent better part of time dwelling on the
achievements of the six-month-old BJP-led Government in
combating the insurgent situation in the Valley State, said
that the Army killed as many as 145 militants in July this
year -- which was almost double the number of militant
killing in June. Similarly, 140 militants were killed in
August, while the number of foreign mercenaries killed in
the border State during the last eight months was 198.
The Home Minister said, the Centre would in the coming
months concentrate not only on quelling the militancy in
the state, but tightening security measures along the
border to curb infiltration.
Checking militancy from spreading to other states,
protection of minorities, galvanising development and
welfare programmes for the border population and countering
secessionist overground outfits in the State, were some of
the measures proposed in the Action Plan approved by the
Centre for Kashmir, he said.
Mr Advani reiterated that his Government would pursue
pro-active policy to tackle militancy in the border State.
He, however, conceded that the Centre had no plans to
resort to `hot pursuit' to weed out terrorists, though it
was an internationally recognised policy to contain
conflict." In the current context, we don't think hot
pursuit is a right approach ( vis-a-vis Pakistan)," he
said.
He ridiculed Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's
suggestion made at a public rally in Mumbai last week that
the Indian Government should extend Rs 2,000 crore as a
soft loan to the Nawab Sharif Government in Pakistan to
tide over its financial crisis. He wondered as to how Mr
Yadav, whom he did not name but made an apparent reference
to, could make such a casual suggestion, unmindful of the
fact that it was against the national interests.
Quoting a report in the international media that stated
that the Pakistani Government was pumping vast sums of
money for its proxy war against India along the J & K
border, he asked: "Should we be extending the loan to
Pakistan to see that it engineers a few more Doda-like
massacres in the border State?"
Despite persistent questioning by the media persons, he
declined to comment on the stand taken by Maharashtra Chief
Minister that the Srikrishna Commission report was
`anti-Hindu' and `pro-Muslim'. "How can I comment on Mr
Joshi's statement when I have not read the report myself,"
he said. He, however, said that the State Government had
every right to reject the commission's report.