NEW DELHI - India, fearing religious tensions and guerrilla
attacks, on Thursday told its states to tighten security as three people died
in the first outbreak of communal unrest since attacks on the U.S. by suspected
Islamic militants.
Three people were killed in a northern Indian town after police fired on a mob
protesting against a crackdown on an Islamic students' group.
A curfew was imposed in the old quarter of Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh,
after protests broke out over a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India
and the arrest of several of its members.
The federal government summoned top state officials and police chiefs to a
meeting next week to prepare for all contigencies including terrorist strikes,
a minister said.
"There is talk about terrorists with chemical, biological weapons....the
states have been asked to review disaster, crisis management systems,"
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters.
Mahajan spoke after the government called opposition leaders to a meeting to
discuss tensions on the subcontinent following the devastating September 11
attacks on the United States.
He said politicians and state governments had been asked to help keep peace in
India's multi-religious society, formed of more than a billion people as the
global battle against terrorism begins.
India was among the first countries to offer cooperation to the United States
in hunting down those behind the deadly attacks on New York and Washington.
Some opposition leaders warned of a backlash from India's 120 million Muslims
and greater unrest in disputed Kashmir if it were to get deeply involved in
military action in Afghanistan where the chief suspect of the attacks is
believed to be hiding.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the opposition that no blanket
military assistance had been offered to the United States, which in any case
had not yet sought such help.
"I want to make it clear we have not given any assurance to the United
States to use our airbases, I want this controversy to end," Mahajan
quoted the prime minister as saying.
A foreign spokeswoman said assistance to the United States had been confined so
far to "intelligence-sharing."
The United States has turned to Pakistan, which shares a long border with
Afghanistan, for help in tracking down Osama bin Laden who it says was behind
the suicide attacks.
Vajpayee, whose Hindu nationalist party leads the governing coalition, stressed
the fight against terrorism was not against Islam. "Islam does not
tolerate terrorism. We must make sure we do not link it with terrorism."
WIDEN ANTI-TERRORISM NET
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh was due to start a tour of Europe and the United
States on Thursday in an effort to widen global efforts to tackle terrorism.
Specifically, India hopes its support for Washington's plans to fight global
terrorism will earn it sympathy for its claim that Pakistan is sponsoring
"terrorism" by encouraging insurgency in Kashmir -- a charge
Islamabad denies.
Singh will travel during the next week to France, Germany and the United States
for talks with senior officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell.
"These are basically bilateral consultations in the light of the attacks.
We strongly support a coordinated international action on all terrorism,"
a foreign ministry official said.
More than 30,000 people have died since the revolt erupted in Kashmir in late
1989. Separatist put the toll closer to 80,000.
09:22 09-27-01