May 9, 2002	Thursday	Safar 25, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, May 8: The Foreign Office spokesman dismissed on Wednesday as ludicrous the allegation by Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani that elements in Pakistan were fanning the flames of communal unrest in Gujarat.

The spokesman said the patently false claim was another proof of the BJP leadership’s predisposition to blame Pakistan for their own policies.

“The latest pronouncement of Advani was no more than a blatant and brazen attempt to cover up the criminal complicity of the BJP government and BJP’s sister organizations in the systematic massacres of Muslims in Gujarat,” he said.

The shameful role played by the Hindu extremist outfits like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal in the planning and execution of anti-Muslim violence was not hidden from anyone, he added.

He said Advani should be asked whether these Hindu fascist and extremist organizations were acting at the behest of Pakistan?

The spokesman said the recent remarks of VHP leader Ashok Singhal to the effect that the killings in Gujarat had shown the Hindus the way and that their journey of victory would begin and end on the same path, gave a chilling indication of the crazed mind-set governing these fanatical organizations.

The spokesman called upon the Indian government to refrain from cynical and self-serving allegations and instead to take effective measures for the rehabilitation of the uprooted Muslim minority community in Gujarat, besides bringing the culprits of the Gujarat pogroms to justice.—APP