Indian Muslims should respond to Pak8217;s jehad call 8212; Advani

Responding to the day-long discussion on grants for the Home Ministry 8212; during which several Opposition members painted a grim picture of the country8217;s internal security 8212; Advani hit out at the Congress and the Left, in particular.

He claimed there was something 8220;wrong8221; with the definition of secularism that many parties were projecting. For instance, he said: 8220;If Advani says something wrong, then tell him. But if G M Banatwala representing the Muslim League says something, keep mum.8221;

Replying to Congress8217; Priya Ranjan Das Munshi that the situation in West bengal was volatile and anything could happen there, Advani said he was keeping track of the developments but he did not elaborate.

Advani had a good word for the Delhi Police. Having done a wonderful job in cracking the cricket-betting scam and making quick arrests, 8220;it has done even Scotland Yard proud,8221; he said.

But surprisingly he did not touch upon the growing Naxalite violence in Andhra Pradesh, MP and Bihar. This was an argument which TDP8217;s M V S Murthy had hammered upon earlier in the day. The Centre, Murthy pleaded, could not leave the menace of Naxalism to the States as it was not a simple law-and-order problem. He warned that the situation could worsen anytime.

Police in Andhra Pradesh, said Murthy, had obsolete weapons and that8217;s why in times of crisis, they were mere helpless spectators. 8220;I am afraid,8221; he told Advani, 8220;if States solved this problem on their own, there will be nothing left for you to solve.8221;

But it was Rajesh Pilot Cong who, while, initiating the discussion maintained that the situation in Kashmir was slipping at an alarming rate. He said there were reports of lack of co-ordination between the Army and para-military forces.

Striking a chord for human rights, Pilot said that the State police, in the event of making any arrest, should at least inform the parents and relatives of the arrested person. The militants in Kashmir now had an edge over security forces, he claimed. He explained that earlier, one security official would die while accounting for five from the other sides, but now the ratio had dropped to 3:1.

Madan Jaiswal of the BJP, speaking immediately after Pilot, squarely blamed the Congress for most of the ills now dogging Kashmir. He claimed that communal riots had gone down during the NDA8217;s rule and this was the Government biggest achievement.

Ram Sagar Rawat of the SP lamented that violence against Dalits and other lower-caste people in Uttar Pradesh had shot up. After his submission, Advani sought from the Samajwadi member details of two recent incidents in Barabanki in which a Dalit youth was allegedly hacked to pieces, his family fled the area in panic and still no police complaint was registered. And another incident in which a woman was paraded naked in a police station.

Pandits, Muslims, Sikks sit down
MATTAN ANANTNAG: For the first time in the past 11 years of turmoil in the Valley, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and Muslims came together to discuss how to overcome the culture of mistrust and hatred. 8220;If Kashmir is to be saved, we have to save this centuries-old brotherhood,8221; said the chief priest of Mattan mosque, Peer Syed Ghulam Jeelani. It was not only sentimental posturing. 8220;Let8217;s all first admit that there is mistrust. The people of various communities don8217;t believe in each other,8221; said Giani Rajinder Singh of Chitti Singhpora.