Chidambaram assures all security to sportspersons

JAMMU - Assuring security to sportspersons visiting India for the Hockey World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday that militants would not be allowed to dictate terms.

“All security would be provided to players,” Chidambaram told reporters here in response to a question on the Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (HuJI) warning sportspersons against visiting India. The message from Illyas Kashmiri, a HuJI commander in Pakistan having close ties with the Al Qaeda, was sent to Asia Times Online Monday, two days after the Pune bombing which killed 11 people.

No one would be allowed to dictate terms to us, Chidambaram said at a press conference after reviewing the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting of the unified command, a strategic group comprising representatives of the army, paramilitary forces, police and intelligence agencies.

The minister, on a one-day visit to the state, also held discussions with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the proposed surrender and rehabilitation policy for militants returning from Pakistan administered Kashmir.

We have asked the centre to prepare a draft of this policy, the home minister said.

There is nothing sinister in the policy, said Chidambaram, who arrived here less than a week after announcing the acceptance of the state’s policy on the amnesty.

Describing the policy as an “assault on nationalist forces”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also held a demonstration to coincide with the home minister’s visit.

BJP leader Ashok Khajuria told reporters that he was surprised that the minister visited Jammu for the rehabilitation of militants, but no one had time for soldiers who died while fighting terrorists.

It is Chidambaram’s third visit to Jammu and Kashmir since he announced “quiet talks” with “all shades of opinion” in Kashmir, including separatists, in October last year.

On Feb 7, Omar Abdullah declared that the government should seriously consider the return of militants from Pakistani Kashmir to bring normalcy to the state. “It was the need of the hour,” he said.

On Feb 11, Chidambaram endorsed the state’s policy and said that steps would be taken for its implementation.