theist 1 Report post Posted May 23, 2004 -- Print this page Landmine attack tests new PM By cprrespondents in New Delhi 24may04 INDIA'S new Prime Minister was faced yesterday by the deadliest landmine attack ever in troubled Kashmir, with 28 Indian troops and their relatives killed a day after he was sworn in. The attack by Islamic rebels overshadowed the first cabinet meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who took the oath of office on Saturday at the head of a left-leaning cabinet. Kashmir's leading rebel group Hizbul Mujaheddin said the attack was in revenge for the killings of its top commanders by Indian troops, but analysts viewed it as a test of the new Government's will. Dr Singh, a 71-year-old economist, has vowed to seek a peaceful solution in Kashmir, India's sole Muslim-majority state, where tens of thousands have died in an Islamic insurgency since 1989. Cabinet member Pranab Mukherjee, who is tipped to head the home ministry that controls key security forces, said the new leadership would keep up the dialogue with separatists opened by the previous right-wing government. "We would like to, on the one hand, strengthen security forces and, on the other hand, we would like to carry on the political dialogue which is necessary to ease tension," Mr Mukherjee said. JN Dixit, a former foreign secretary also seen as influential in the new government, said the attack showed that rebels were determined to stop peace moves in Kashmir. "It (the attack) means that groups of militants supported by Pakistani forces remain active and the aim is to disrupt dialogue between the Government of India, the Hurriyat (separatist alliance) and other separatist elements and in the process disrupt India-Pakistan dialogue," Mr Dixit said. The blast, which targeted a bus of paramilitary troops, was the deadliest landmine attack in 15 years of fighting, although there have been higher tolls in massacres and rebel raids on buildings. It was the bloodiest single incident in Kashmir since April 2003 when then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered a surprise "hand of friendship" to Pakistan, ushering in historic peace talks. New Delhi has in the past accused Pakistan of sponsoring the insurgency. Pakistan says it offers only political and diplomatic support to an "indigenous" struggle for self-rule. Dr Singh moved in to the official residence vacated by Mr Vajpayee within hours of taking the oath from President Abdul Kalam at the Presidential Palace. He began his first full day in office by paying homage to the country's fallen soldiers at India Gate, a memorial arch in central New Delhi. The new leader also sprinkled flowers at the tombs of Mahatma Gandhi, India's slain pacifist independence leader, and of assassinated premiers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Dr Singh, a former finance minister who launched India's economic reforms in the 1990s, was suddenly elevated to the top job after Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi, declined to take it. Ms Gandhi, president of the Congress party, appealed to poor rural voters in the upset defeat of the Hindu nationalists who had highlighted surging economic growth and peace with Pakistan. Dr Singh, a Sikh, is the first member of the religious minority to be prime minister of Hindu-majority India. Cabinet members took their oaths after Dr Singh late on Saturday, but analysts said the delay in announcing the portfolios showed the pressures of coalition politics. Congress has only 145 seats in parliament where 272 are needed for a majority, meaning Dr Singh will have to rely on communist and regional parties to stay in power. "There are pulls and pressures in a coalition government and they are sorting it out," said analyst Neerja Chowdhury. Congress ruled India for 45 years but has been out of power since 1996 and much of the new cabinet is expected to be made up of party veterans. A headline in The Indian Express described the incoming cabinet as "the usual suspects in usual slots". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
