SRINAGAR: Ruling out a political conspiracy in the killing of Minister of State for Education Ghulam Nabi Lone on October 18 last year, the one man panel headed by the Commissioner/Secretary, Finance, Bharat Bhushan Vyas, has concluded that the attack was primarily to target the Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.Y. Tarigami. He said it was a security lapse and raised many issues on that front.

The 100-page report, tabled in the Assembly on Friday, became a "political issue" as the members of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), to which Dr. Lone belonged, almost stalled the proceedings demanding that the report be made public. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said it was a security lapse as pointed out by the panel. "No politician-militant nexus has been found," Mr. Azad told mediapersons in Jammu. It was the PDP's rebel member and former Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir who had raised a "hue and cry" over the killing and alleged that Dr. Lone was killed as part of a political conspiracy.

However, Mr. Vyas has given a detailed account of the circumstances, which led to the killing. It was primarily an attack on Mr. Tarigami whose office was adjacent to Mr. Lone's official residence. According to the report, the natural corollary does not suggest that there was a conspiracy to kill Dr. Lone except that the militants who attacked the Tulsi Bagh area that day had planned to target Mr. Tarigami. At Mr. Tarigami's residence on the other side of colony, the attack was repulsed and one policeman was killed. "But here the CRPF could not handle it as the degree and quality of response was not adequate," Mr. Vyas said.

Regarding security in the Tulsi Bagh area where many Ministers and MLAs have their official residences, Mr. Vyas said that in spite of being a sensitive area the outer wall of the colony was broken, the personal security officers of VIPs had been moving around in civvies making the distinction between militants and policemen difficult and that the frisking at Dr. Lone's residence was done by the CRPF when the job was to be done by the security wing of the J&K police.

He has also pointed out the lack of coordination between various forces and suggested that one battalion of police or paramilitary forces should be deployed for the security of one particular colony.

The report is yet to be accepted by the State Cabinet.

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