Faced with Opposition’s ire over repeated attacks from Pakistan, the latest being a terror strike on CRPF camp in Srinagar a day before, the Government on Thursday said it suspected that the killed terrorists were of ‘foreign origin’.
Responding to the spirited attack from leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde also added that claims by an agent of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, owing up the responsibility for the assault, was yet to be ascertained.
Shinde told both the Houses that a skin ointment recovered from the possession of the 2 killed terrorists was manufactured in Karachi and the number mentioned in their diaries, also recovered, appear to be of ‘Pakistani’ origin. “There bodies were shaven which confirms them to be fidayeen. The killed terrorists are suspected to be of foreign origin,” Shinde said, reading out from a written statement.
Earlier, Swaraj tore into the Government for ‘no reaction’ to the challenge put up by Pakistan. “It is very shameful that every other day Pakistan was attacking Indian soldiers, including beheading one of them recently, and there is no reaction (from New Delhi). We got some assurance when the visa on arrival (to Pakistanis) was stopped and the Prime Minister made a statement that business as usual will not do. But the attacks happened again,” she said.
Swaraj saluted the Diwan of Ajmer Sharif for refusing to welcome the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister last week and rued that External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid treated him to a sumptuous lunch.
He suggested the UPA regime to take ‘ground realities’ into consideration before taking a call on demands for removal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the Valley. Her reference to the AFSPA triggered a verbal duel between the BJP and National Conference MPs.
NC members Sharifuddin Shariq and Mirza Mehboob Beg were on their feet shouting that the law, which gave special powers to the armed forces, should be withdrawn, prompting BJP members to rise and shout back.
An agitated Shariq also came into the aisle a couple of times. They were supported by RJD chief lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party’s Shailendra Kumar, who wanted the Chair to allow them to speak. Following the heated exchanges, Swaraj told the NC members “today is not the day for us to challenge each other but to challenge Pakistan unitedly”.
Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha intervened saying, “It is a great tragedy that our great country has not been able to deal with terrorism.” He sought to know from the Home Minister if India was “so helpless” that it can not deal with challenges posed by terror outfits.
Raising the issue in the Upper House, Naidu said “enemy is at work again” adding Pakistan continued to aid and abet terrorism in India. He also sought to know whether the Government knew that terrorists training camps in Pakistan had gone up from 42 to 60.
His party colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called for tough action against Pakistan and said the Home Secretary and the Home Minister on Wednesday made contradictory statements about the terrorist groups responsible for the attack. Shinde, however, said his statement in Parliament should be taken into account.
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) expressed concern over lack of co-ordination between the intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Shinde refuted the charge and said the Government had taken various steps to improve synergy between various agencies and had managed to pre-empt many incidents.
Naresh Aggarwal (SP) said Pakistan was making all efforts to demoralise the Army and para-military by such incidents and asked why the Government is shying away from calling Pakistan an enemy country.
Responding to the members’ charge that the State Government had ordered the CRPF not to carry weapons, Shinde said the Government was making efforts to reach out to people of Kashmir by taking such measures.
He claimed situation in the strife-torn State had improved in the last eight years and referred to his visit along with CM Omar Abdullah to lal Chowk in Srinagar some months back in a private vehicle and without security. Shinde also said the Government is planning to bring a special package to bring peace to the State.
another goof-up, Shinde reads out statement twice
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde committed another faux pas in lok Sabha by reading out twice a part of his statement. Members were agitated and even Shinde’s ministerial colleagues were looking in disbelief at this. Several BJP members stood up to point out to Speaker Meira Kumar that the statement was being read again. Unmindful of this, Shinde went on and read out almost half of the five-paragraph statement. Finally, he stopped only after a lok Sabha official went up to him to apparently say that he has already read it out and was repeating it.
Group tourist visa for Pak nationals put on hold
India on Thursday put on hold the proposed group tourist visa facility to Pakistani nationals from Friday in the wake of growing unease in bilateral ties following the killing of two Indian soldiers along the line of Control and Wednesday’s suicide attack in Srinagar. “We are not going to operationalise the group visa facility to be offered to Pakistani nationals from tomorrow,” a senior Home Ministry official said.