Cong condemns spurt in violence in Kashmir

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) The Congress today condemned a spurt in insurgent activities in Jammu and Kashmir and said these were deliberately designed to wean away tourists from the State .

The State had been heading towards normalcy and tourists had started coming in large numbers in the Valley. It was to create hurdle in the inflow of tourists that violence had been stepped up, Congress Media Department vice-chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.

Violent activities could not possibly have been anticipated and the State Government was taking steps whatever was possbile, Mr Singhvi said.

Mr Singhvi also defended the move to install a bullet proof mechanism around the Ramhanmabhoomi site, saying the people were overreacting to the proposed move. '' A civic issue is being sought to be turned into a religious issue.'' ''If some explosion takes place around the disputed site, we may be charged with collusion,'' he said, adding it was a perfectly transparent exercise. The government is not doing that on its own but has moved an application seeking permission to instal the security mechanism around Ramjanambhoomi, he said.

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