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Massacre has jeopardised Indo-Pak peace process: Farooq

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said ''the mad massacre'' of 23 Pandits on Sunday night has jeopardised the normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.

Even as India is struggling for peace, he said, Pakistan was doing its best to neutralise the process by ''indulging in heinous crimes on our soil, picking innocent women and children to satisfy their blood thirst.''

The chief minister was speaking at a meeting in Jammu, comprising representatives of various political parties and prominent citizens. The representatives said they stood by the government in ensuring that communal amity was maintained despite grave provocation by ''enemies of the country."

The meeting adopted a resolution which called to observe Wednesday, January 28, as a day of mourning. Government offices and educational institutions will remain closed as a mark of protest against the killings.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference, for its part, has called a bandh on February 1 to protest against the massacre.

Dr Abdullah visited Wandhama village in the afternoon.

"By such acts Pakistan wants to create mistrust and hatred between various communities in the country," he said expressing the hope that the countrymen would not oblige them in their gameplan and would maintain 'communal amity and brotherhood'.

The city, meanwhile, witnessed a few incidents of violence and demonstrations. Groups of youths came on to the streets shouting slogans against the government. Later they pelted the police with stones. Some policemen were injured and a vehicle was damaged.

Leaders of various political parties, including the Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist, also took out protest marches in the city.

Security has been tightened all over the state, especially in Gulmarg where Prime Minister I K Gujral is scheduled to inaugurate the National Winter Games on Wednesday. The games will conclude on February 1.

Official sources said Gujral may also visit Wandhama. He is scheduled to review the security situation in the valley with Dr Abdullah and state officials before his return to New Delhi in the evening.

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