10 May 2002
ADVANI SEES PAK HAND BEHIND GUJARAT
RIOTS
From Jal Khambata
NEW DELHI: Home
Minister Lal Krishna Advani on Friday allays MPs' fears assuring them
that the relief camps opened for the communal violence victims in
Gujarat will not be closed down. He wanted them to take his word that
"the state government has not taken any such decision."
He
told a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee attached
to the Home ministry that the Government would do everything
necessary to restore normalcy in Gujarat, stressing that the Rajya
Sabha resolution asking the Centre to act under Article 355 "has
only made the government more conscious about this
obligation."
Advani, however, has his own interpretation
of the reasons behind the violence refusing to die down. He claimed
"underworld elements being in touch with their mentors in
Pakistan regarding retaliatory actions in Gujarat and even in parts
of Maharashtra." He claimed intelligence intercepts support this
theory.
Maintaining that help from across the border was being
sought for supply of arms, ammunition and explosives for undertaking
such acts of violence, he said "Pakistan-based leader of
Lashkar-e-Taiba and elements of gangs of Dawood Ibrahim and late
Abdul Latif are, in particular, involved in such conspiracies."
END