Indian Prime Minister Vows to Deal with Situation Firmly

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 02, 2002

Indian Prime Minister Vows to Deal with Situation Firmly

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Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Friday night that his government would firmly and effectively deal with the turmoil situation in the west state of Gujarat and other parts of the country, which has killed over 250 people in the last three days.

Emerging after a 90-minute meeting between Vajpayee and leaders of major political parties, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters that Vajpayee assured the country that his government would restore peace and normalcy.

The meeting agreed in principle to send an all-party delegation to Gujarat to help instill confidence among the people in the state, Mahajan said.

He claimed that the situation was rapidly moving towards normalcy and there were "not even 10 percent incidents" on Friday compared to those a day earlier.

The minister said 208 people had been killed in Gujarat, including the 58 deaths inside an express train near Godhra station, which was attacked and set on fire by a group of unidentified people last Wednesday.

He informed the press that Defense Minister George Fernandes, who is now in Gujarat, was personally monitoring the situation and the Gujarat government had sought more para-military forces.

Three out of six municipal corporations in the state were affected by the violence, 29 of 242 municipal towns and 12 out of some 18,000 villages in the state were either effected or hit during the turmoil, Mahajan said.

However, Congress leader manmohan Singh told the press after the meeting that the situation was "still far from control" and there was need for effective measures to control the situation immediately.

Nine columns of army comprising over 3,000 troops were airlifted early on Friday morning to the sensitive areas of the worst-hit commercial city of Ahmedabad, 910 kilometers southwest of here.

Armed troops have also been deployed in other cities and towns of the state Friday as indefinite curfew continued in 32 cities and towns following large-scale violence in the last two days.

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