Opinion Talking to Pakistan

It criticises Islamabad’s denial of the complicity of Pakistan’s state actors in supporting terror activities in India,claiming it came despite “concrete proof” provided by the confessions of Ajmal Kasab and Abu Jundal. It says that Islamabad’s offer of a “joint investigation” was just a tactic to scupper the investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008.

The editorial chastises the government for beginning “talks” with Pakistan,saying that Pakistan uses these talks as proof of its attempts at achieving “resolution through dialogue” at international fora,while failing to address India’s security concerns,or doing enough to deal with terrorism within its own borders. The editorial suggests that the government take a “stern” position against Pakistan’s delaying tactics. “It is for India to think what stern steps we should take (against Pakistan),” the editorial concludes.

Relief for Purohit

REPORTS that witnesses in the army’s court of inquiry did not corroborate Shrikant Purohit’s alleged terror links in the Malegaon blasts case appear to have relieved the Sangh Parivar,with RSS journal Organiser prominently displaying a news report on the subject in a recent issue.

Referring to the reported clean chit to Purohit in the 2008 Malegaon blast case,an article in Organiser has alleged that the development exposes a conspiracy against “Bharat,Hindus and the [sic patriotic people” and charged “a section of Congress leaders and some ministers in the UPA government” with trying to prove that “saffron terror” exists.

The Organiser article asserts that it is “beyond any doubt” that other “Hindu saints” accused in the Samjhauta Express train blasts,like Swami Aseemanand and Sadhvi Pragya Singh,are “innocent”,and calls for their release.

“The Army probe puts the UPA government in the dock. If Purohit is not guilty in the Malegaon blast case,then neither Sadhvi Pragya nor Swami Aseemanand are guilty. Should they not be released without wasting time? The failure of NIA in filing a chargesheet against them for four years is sufficient ground to prove

them innocent,” says the Organiser report.

Defeat Naxals

REFERRING to the “hullabaloo” over the recent CRPF attack against Naxals in Chhattisgarh that killed many tribals,an editorial in the Organiser has used statements from the director general of the security force — “which is at the forefront of the anti-Red operation” — to dispel apprehensions that innocent tribals were killed in the BJP-ruled state,as “claimed by some”.

The editorial alleges that Union Tribal Affairs Minister K.C. Deo’s statement that those killed in the encounter were innocent villagers is part of the Congress party’s “true characteristic style” of speaking with “forked tongue(s)”,pointing to the home minister’s statement that the operation was genuine.

In the process,the editorial defends Chief Minister Raman Singh’s assertion that the Naxals use innocent tribals as a human shield,reasoning that there could be casualties in a “pitched fight in darkness”. It makes clear,however,that this cannot be equated to the “cold-blooded murder the Naxals indulge in”. The editorial wants security forces to be allowed to function without “political interference”.

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari