India will use Sikh attacks to drive home terror point

New Delhi feels the latest incident has given it an opportunity to raise the pitch on terrorism and make the point that distinctions between Talibans Quetta Shura,al Qaeda,Hizb-e-Islami and the Lashkar-e-Taiba were meaningless,since they are,for all practical purposes,merged both operationally and ideologically and that not acting against all these groups is going to affect not just Indians,but Pakistan citizens as well. India will also reiterate its demand for bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice expeditiously and in a transparent manner.

But as Krishnas statement raises the temperature,Bashir is expected to raise the issue of Kashmir and meet Hurriyat leaders,including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at the Pakistan High Commission on Wednesday.

Meanwhile,in Beijing,Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said his government would do whatever it can for safety and security of the minority community. We are equally concerned. We condemn that strongly. They (militants) are inhuman. They have (make) no distinction between individuals,ethnicities or religions regardless, Qureshi said about the attacks on Sikhs.

Not taking any chances,the Pakistani authorities have cut short the visit of Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal due to the security situation in the area. The visit of the Sikh jatha was shortened from three days to one,media reports said. They were earlier scheduled to stay in Hasanabdal and participate in the Saka Nankana Sahib Anniversary,being observed for the second time after the Partition.

But tempers are still high in Punjab,where the Cabinet,in a unanimous resolution,called upon the Union government to mobilise international public opinion against the carnage and to focus global attention on the plight of the minorities in general and the Sikhs in particular in Pakistan. The Cabinet also appealed to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take up the issue with his Pakistan counterpart and to take it up as a priority item in any dialogue.

In New Delhi,an NDA delegation called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand that India register its protest with Pakistan and apply diplomatic pressure on it for ensuring safety of the Sikhs. The delegation,comprising BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia,SAD MPs Harsimrat Kaur,Naresh Gujral and Ratan Singh Ajnala and former Minority Commission chairman Tarlochan Singh among others,met the Prime Minister and demanded that India take up the matter with Pakistan. The Prime Minister assured us that talks were on at various levels with Pakistan on the issue, Ahluwalia said.

(With ENS,Chandigarh and PTI,Beijing)