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PM summons Advani, George, Farooq for meeting

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has called a meeting on February 9 of Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to discuss the latest attacks on the Sikh community by militants in the troubled state.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who had led a three-member fact-finding team to the valley, presented its report to the prime minister.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chamanlal Gupta and Sardar Tarlochan Singh, vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, the other members of the fact-finding team, accompanied Dhindsa when he met the prime minister. So did senior Bharatiya Janata Party politician Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Member of Parliament.

Later, talking to reporters, Dhindsa admitted that there was widespread anger amongst the Sikhs in the valley and they had threatened to migrate en masse unless they were provided with adequate security.

Malhotra said 135 Sikh-dominated villages had been earmarked as unsafe and security was being provided to them by the state administration in consultation with the Union home ministry.

Six Sikhs were gunned down on Saturday by militants on the outskirts of Srinagar. The bhog ceremony for the victims will take place on February 11.

Meanwhile, Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, has asked the Centre to scrap the ceasefire and answer bullets with bullets.

He has also asked for widespread powers for Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah so that he can deal effectively with the rising militancy and anti-Sikh attacks in the valley.

Gupta, Member of Parliament from Jammu, described the police firing on Sikh demonstrators as unfortunate. "We have already set up an inquiry and the erring officers have been suspended. The state administration is determined to provide security to the Sikhs in the valley, because we want them to stay there," he said.

The Government's Ceasefire: The complete coverage

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