BJP demands beefing up security at Golden Temple

Chandigarh, Oct 5 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party today demanded beefing up of security at the Golden Temple at Amritsar in the wake of the Lashkar-e-Toiba threat to blow up the holy shrine.

''Both the Centre and the Punjab Government should take the terrorists' threat seriously and take adequate steps to ensure safety of the temple'', BJP Legal Cell Convenor Satya Pal Jain said at a press conference here.

He urged the UPA Government at the Centre to desist from pursuing a soft approach towards militants and deal with them sternly, saying the country had ''paid a price for their activities'' in the past.

Terrorists attacks on Akshardham temple, Ayodhya temple and the recent bomb blasts at Malegaon, inflicting number of casualities of innocent people, are still fresh in our mind, he said, demanding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh give up his ''soft line'' towards them.

Stating that the BJP was against giving any clemency to Mohammad Afzal Guru who has been sentenced to gallows for the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, Mr Jain said Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement demanding reconsideration of the death sentence would, infact, send a wrong signal to the militants.

'' Are they encouraging extremists?'', said the BJP leader, adding those who speak in their favour were not doing any good to the country. Afzal does not accept the authority of the Indian Constitution and Indian courts and he has refused to sign mercy petition so far, he noted.

Mr Jain asked the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi should to clear their stand on Mr Azad's statement.

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