Delhi blasts new phase of terror war on India: Advani

Bangalore, Sep 14 (IANS): The serial bomb blasts in New Delhi Saturday signal a new phase in the terrorist war on India with disturbing features, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said here Sunday.In his address at the concluding session of the party’s three-day national executive meeting, Advani told about 200 delegates that the nature of blasts and their spots revealed that the global terrorism network’s local roots have spread wider and it was receiving open support in certain sections of the political class, which was never the case earlier.

“We have a government that is refusing to implement the Supreme Court verdict on death sentence for someone (Afzal Guru) who is convicted in the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament (Dec 13, 2001). Two cabinet ministers in the UPA government have publicly defended the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (IMI) without being reprimanded by the prime minister,” Advani said.

If elected to power in the next parliamentary polls, due by May next, the BJP has decided to bring back the Prevention of Terrorist Activities (POTA) Act, which was repealed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, recommend presidential assent for state-specific anti-terror laws and take other tough measures to combat the menace of terrorism in the first 100 days in governance.

“The BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government will have firm anti-terror action as part of its 100-day agenda if voted to power,” Advani noted.

Paying homage to the blast victims, Advani alleged that under the UPA dispensation, terrorists have no fear because the Congress and the government were gripped with fear - the fear of losing “vote-banks” - when it comes to taking uncompromising legal and administrative measures against terrorism.

“The ruling establishment’s unwillingness and incapacity to fight terrorism and separatism have created an unprecedented threat to India’s unity and security,” Advani said.

Expressing concern over the “transition” of Jammu and Kashmir “from special status to separatism” over the years, the party’s prime ministerial candidate said the mishandling of the situation in the sensitive border state by the UPA government smacked of politics of minorityism.

“The government’s flip-flop on the allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board has made one thing clear: the present day Congress leadership has mentally accepted that Kashmir is separate from the rest of India and should be treated as such. This dangerous slide from special status to separatism must be halted. Only the BJP and its allies can do it,” Advani asserted.

“The Amarnath issue is neither Hindu versus Muslim nor Jammu versus Kashmir. It is nationalists versus separatists,” he said.