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Gujral visits Wandhama

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Wednesday joined the mourners in Kashmir's Wandhama village where 23 Pandits were massacred by unidentified gunmen on Sunday.

Amidst tight security, the prime minister, accompanied by Governor General K V Krishna Rao (retired), Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and Union Minister for Environment Saifuddin Soz, arrived in the afternoon after inaugurating the National Winter Games in Gulmarg.

"I have come here to express my grief on behalf of the nation," he said, "The people of Punjab had unitedly defeated the nefarious designs of the enemy. The people of Kashmir will also defeat the designs.''

Gujral assured 14-year-old Vinod Kumar Dhar, the lone survivor of the massacre, that the government would bear the cost of his education and upbringing. Speaking to a group of Kashmiri Pandits who had come down from nearby villages, the premier said adequate security would be provided in all vulnerable areas.

Dr Abdullah, on his part, has announced a Rs 2 million compensation package for Dhar. He lashed out at Pakistan, describing the killings as 'anti-Islamic'. He also announced the formation of village defence committees in all vulnerable areas.

Kashmir Divisional Commissioner S L Bhat, though admitting that there was a general scare among Kashmiri Pandit families, claimed no one has left the valley yet.

Reports from Ganderbal, meanwhile, said that many Kashmiri Pandits in the area were preparing to leave for Jammu.

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