Indian parliament adjourns without Kashmir statement
Despite expectations, both India’s houses of Parliament adjourned today without Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee commenting on Saturday’s attack by suspected Islamic militants that killed 28 civilians in India-controlled Kashmir.
The Parliament, which opened for a one-month session today, was adjourned in less than an hour after Vajpayee’s new Cabinet was introduced.
It is routine for Parliamentary sessions to adjourn on the first day in memory of MPs who have died during the recess.
A statement about the attack had been promised, and there was no explanation as to why Vajpayee said nothing to Parliament.
Instead, both houses issued statements condemning the killing of civilians in the attack in Qasimnagar near Jammu, the winter capital of the northern Jammu-Kashmir state, and offered their condolences to the families of those who died.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who visited the site of the attack, said yesterday that the government would spell out its response to the killings in Parliament.
Vajpayee’s Cabinet Committee on Security also indicated the government’s response would be made in Parliament.
The attack, which came after nearly a month of relative calm between India and Pakistan, had once again raised fears of heightening tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding more than a dozen Islamic militant groups fighting Indian security forces over independence for the Himalayan province of Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
Pakistan, which describes the guerrillas as ‘‘freedom fighters,’’ denies the charge, saying it only gives them diplomatic and political support.
