November 26, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 20, 1423

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JAMMU, Nov 25: India on Monday pointed the finger at Pakistan for an attack by freedom activists on two Hindu temples in Indian-held Kashmir and claimed the freeing of a hardline Pakistani leader had triggered a sudden surge of violence in the disputed Himalayan state.

Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, told parliament in New Delhi that India would take “all possible steps to combat and defeat the scourge of cross-border terrorism in all its forms” in response to the temple attack.

He was speaking after activists overnight attacked the famous Raghunath temple and an adjoining smaller Hindu shrine in the Indian-held Kashmir winter capital Jammu and sprayed devotees with automatic gunfire.

Advani blamed the attack on Lashkar-i-Taiba and stressed a dramatic upsurge of savagery in Indian Kashmir in recent days had taken place after Lashkar’s leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was released in Pakistan.

The upsurge “makes one speculate whether it is a mere coincidence that this spate of terrorist incidents has occurred just when the process of government formation has been completed in Pakistan,” Advani said, referring to a civilian government which took office in Islamabad at the weekend.

“The spurt of violence also follows the release by the government of Pakistan of the chief of the Lashkar-i-Taiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

“After his release, he vowed to continue Jihad in Jammu and Kashmir and gave a public call to step up terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir.”—AFP