The Hindu : Bid to enhance tension: Pak.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 15, 2002

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Bid to enhance tension: Pak.

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, July 14. Pakistan today condemned the killing of 27 civilians in Jammu on Saturday night by unidentified gunmen and concurred with the assessment of the Indian Government that it was a terrorist attack.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said the "motivation behind the attack seems to be to enhance tension" in the region. Implied in the statement was the suggestion that whoever is behind the heinous act is an enemy of both India and Pakistan. Of course, the statement of Pakistan came before it was known that the Foreign Minister, Yashwant Singh, had pointed fingers at Islamabad for the gory attack. Pakistan is bound to refute the allegation.

Nevertheless, Pakistan's outright condemnation of the latest killings is a contrast to its earlier statements on similar incidents. In the past such condemnations were always qualified with demands such as the need for an "independent inquiry".

In commenting on the Jammu incident Pakistan could not resist the temptation to counsel India to end what it called as 'repression' in the state and come to the negotiating table for a resolution of the dispute.

''The Government of Pakistan has called upon the Government of India to end its repression in Jammu and Kashmir and to adopt the path of reason, justice and dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people'', the spokesman said.

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