PM remark appeasement of terrorists: Advani

Mumbai observes anniversary of 7/11 train blasts

Charging that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark about how he had spent a "sleepless night" thinking about the plight of families of Indian nationals accused in the failed UK terror plot was tantamount to "appeasement of terrorists", senior BJP leader LK Advani contended here on Wednesday that "getting rid of the weak and visionless UPA Government is the only way to wipe out terrorism" from the country.

Addressing the survivors of the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts on the occasion of the first anniversary of the terror attack that claimed 187 lives and left over 800 injured, Advani ridiculed the Prime Minister's statement sympathising with the families of the UK terror suspects. "One has not heard of the Prime Minister having spent sleepless nights over the plight of victims of the 7/11 blasts or any other terrorist attacks that have taken place during the last three years," he said.

"The Prime Minister's comments are unfortunate and tantamount to appeasement of terrorism. As subsequent media disclosures have shown, at least some of these Indian nationals were indeed a part of terrorist activities in Britain," Advani said.

Dubbing UPA Government's failure to tackle terrorism as "self-willed", the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that the Manmohan Singh Government had not only been unable to comprehend the nature of the terrorist threat to India and to evolve a firm plan of action to combat it, but it was also unwilling to do so out of consideration of vote bank politics. "The UPA Government will not take strong measures to stop the alarming spread of local cells of foreign inspired terrorist organisations. This is because this Government has chosen, as a principle of survival in office, to communalise India's internal security policy," he said.

In his vehement castigation of the Manmohan Singh dispensation, Advani said that getting rid of the "weak" and "visionless" UPA Government was the only way to "wipe out terrorism". He pointed out that one could not expect the Congress-led UPA Government to admit their mistakes and abandon their "dangerous" "kid-glove approach" to terrorism inspired by ideologies that spread hatred against India.

Advani charged that the UPA Government had failed to get to the bottom of any of the major terrorist attacks - Ayodhya, Samjhauta Express, Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, IISC in Bangalore, Sarojini Nagar in Delhi - in the last three years. It had not even cracked those cases where terrorists had targeted religious places of Muslims like Malegaon, Jama Masjid in Delhi and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, he alleged.

Advani, who interacted with the 7/11 blasts survivors and their families at Malad and Bhayandar- northern suburbs of Mumbai, said that the Prime Minister's decision to establish an anti-terror joint mechanism with Pakistan was nothing but a "U-turn" made by the UPA Government on India's approach to terrorism. The Manmohan Singh Government had agreed to have Islamabad as its partner in its fight against terrorism under foreign pressure.

"Soon after 7/11, the Prime Minister's first reaction was that the blasts were the handiwork of Pakistan. However, within a few weeks, he announced in Havana, after meeting Gen Pervez Musharraf, that India and Pakistan would establish a joint mechanism to fight terrorism. It was shocking to see that India, in its fight against terror, was going to join hands with the very country that has all along used terrorism as State policy against India," Advani said.

The former Deputy Prime Minister also took a swipe at Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil by alluding to a statement made by the latter after his visit to the 7/11 Mumbai blasts sites on July 12, 2006 that his Government had enough evidence of the perpetrators of the blasts and would take stern action to bring them to book and share the details with the people at the appropriate time.

"Today, I want to ask Patil and the Prime Minister what action they have taken against the guilty and what information they have shared with the nation," Advani added.

Earlier in the day, Advani visited Bhayandar railway station and offered floral tributes to those killed in 7/11 blasts. He also visited the Kandivali residence of a charted accountancy student Chirag Chavan, who is now paralysed from waist, "Chirag has not given up hope and is preparing for his examination sitting on an electronic chair provided to him," Advani said. The senior BJP leader was also all praise for his party's former MP Kirit Somaiya for crusading for the compensation and welfare of the 7/11 blasts survivors and their families.