July 16, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423

NEW DELHI, July 15: India’s parliament adjourned on Monday without hearing an expected government announcement on its response to a weekend massacre of 28 people in occupied Jammu by unidentified gunmen.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who visited the scene of Saturday’s slayings in a slum in the city, had said he would outline the government’s next steps in parliament on Monday.

But just minutes after opening the monsoon session both houses adjourned until Tuesday in tribute to former parliamentarians who had died since parliament last met.

The two chambers expressed regret over the massacre before adjourning.

“We deeply mourn the loss of lives of these innocent people and strongly deplore this act of violence,” Speaker Manohar Joshi told the lower house. “The house may place on record its deep sense of grief on this tragedy.”

It was not immediately clear when the government will detail what steps it plans to take over the massacre.

In the Saturday raid, five attackers — two disguised in the saffron robes of Hindu holy men — lobbed grenades and fired on a crowd listening to a cricket match between India and England. The killers then barged into nearby huts, shooting wildly.—Reuters