The Hindu : National : Khalistani elements still in Pakistan: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007
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Khalistani elements still in Pakistan: BJP

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has not completely ruled out the possibility of a Khalistani hand, aided and abetted by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, in Sunday’s cinema blast in Ludhiana.

A senior leader said: “Many Khalistani elements are still in Pakistan. Some wanted men of Khalistani outfits have not been deported to India. There is a synergy between these forces and the ISI.” He specially mentioned the Babbar Khalsa and the Khalistan Commando Force as being still active with their leaders based in Pakistan and some other countries.

Party president Rajnath Singh blamed the repeated terrorist incidents on the “soft” approach of the United Progressive Alliance. He said the government’s insistence on hard evidence before action against suspects demoralised the security agencies. “Communal appeasement” was also to blame for the state of affairs.

Mr. Singh claimed that the National Democratic Alliance government had “completely destroyed 300 sleeper cells” of terrorist outfits, giving a “free hand” to security agencies.

The BJP leader wanted to know what was the accountability of the National Security Advisor. “He [the NSA] is acting only as a scare-monger. What concrete and specific steps are being taken to effectively counter terrorism?” Responsibility must be fixed.

BJP leaders blamed the UPA government for repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, saying this sent out the wrong message. The party said it would support any initiative to strengthen the legal framework to deal with terrorism effectively.

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