Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 26, 2006
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1808780.cms
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: Should
not the secularists who held the bus move as a means to achieve the evasive
peace be held responsible for this happening?]
Union home minister Shivraj Patil confirmed
the worst suspicions of security agencies on Tuesday when he said that terrorists
had taken advantage of buses and trains launched as part of Confidence Building
Measures (CBMs) to sneak in from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The acknowledgement was based on the intelligence
input that those who came here to watch cricket matches and went missing (11
of them from Mohali in 2005) might have been terrorists. This has become a
serious area of concern as security agencies track terror suspects in the
wake of the Mumbai blasts.
Replying to an adjournment motion moved by
BJP in Lok Sabha, the home minister elaborated that terror had spread its
tentacles not just in border towns but well into the hinterland.
The minister said, "Terrorists have come
through water and air taking advantage of the friendly atmosphere...the warmth
in ties."
The adverse side-effects of the people-to-people
contacts between India and Pakistan may prove to be a dampener for CBM enthusiasts
who have advocated cultural interaction with neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
While interaction is seen to bring down barriers
and dissolve stereotypes, Pakistani visitors can see whether conditions in
India tally with PTV propaganda, there are security concerns in the CBMs being
abused.
