Violence will not halt peace process in J

Amritsar, Feb 26 (UNI) Union Minister of state for Home Shri Prakash Jaiswal today asserted that terrorist violence will not halt the on-going peace process in Jammu and Kashmir.

Commenting on the bomb explosion at Srinagar today which left seven army personnel injured, the Minister said that such incidents showed the level of frustration in the terrorist ranks.''The terrorists are a demoralised lot and they will indulge in such incidents to sabotage the round table talks intiated by the Prime Minister to bring peace in the Kashmir valley'',he told mediapersons here.

Claiming that peace prevailed in the Valley, he said it was due to the efforts and policies of the UPA government and the Jammu and Kashmir government that terrorist violence had been checked.The number of tourists including foreigners visiting Kashmir had registered a sharp increase in the last couple of months,he pointed out.

The Minister lauded the people of J&K for bringing peace in the state and claimed that a number of terrorists had joined the mainstream in the Valley.

When his attention was drawn to the Punjab DGPs open admission that the police had utilised the services of 300-odd former terrorists for anti-terrorist operations in Punjab, Mr Jaiswal said that this was a state matter. "Punjabis and the security forces needed to be complimented for bringing peace in Punjab", he said.

The Minister later inagurated a traffic park in Thatian Mahanta village in Tarn Taran police district.

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